LeBron James: “Kyrie Irving is not a kid anymore. He’s 30”

Sick for a week, LeBron James was clearly not in his mood on the court. Uncertain, he had wanted to play against the Jazz, and he did not deliver a great game. But he still appeared before the press, and unsurprisingly, he was asked about Kyrie Irving. The two won a title together, they broke up, then reconciled, and throughout the summer, there was talk of a reunion at the Lakers. Until now, we had not heard players speak out on the Irving controversy, and his sharing of an anti-Semitic film.

“He apologized but he caused harm”

” Me personally, I do not tolerate any hatred, whatever it is. Of any race. Whether it’s the Jewish communities, the black communities, the Asian communities … You know where I stand,” LeBron James replied to the press. “And that’s part of the reason we didn’t air The Shop episode (ed. note: with Kanye West), and why we took it out of the archives. Because there was a hateful conversation. And I don’t condone that. There’s no place in this world for that. No one can benefit from it and I think what Kyrie did hurt a lot of people. Sure, yesterday or today he apologized, but he caused harm and I think that’s unfortunate. Don’t put yourself in a position to hurt people when it comes to your voice or your platform or whatever. So it doesn’t matter what color your skin is, what size you are, what position you’re in. If you’re promoting or saying things that are harmful to a community, things that are hurting people, then I don’t respect it, and I don’t tolerate it. ”

“I hope he is aware that what he said was hurtful to a lot of people.”

Since he knows Kyrie Irving very well, how does he see the next step for his former teammate?

” I don’t know… Because at the end of the day, Kyrie is in control of his destiny. He shows up in front of the media and talks. He’s a man and he comes from a great family. I love that kid. He’s not a kid anymore. He’s 30 years old. He said it the other day in his press conference, and I thought it was crazy… I don’t know what path and steps he’s taking but he apologized for what he said and I hope he realizes that what he said was hurtful to a lot of people. As humans, none of us are perfect, but I hope he understands that what he did and his actions just hurt a lot of people. I haven’t really dug into it, but I do understand what happens when you hurt someone. It’ s just common sense.”