Anti-Defamation League gives back Kyrie Irving’s $500,000 donation

The Anti-Defamation league doesn’t want Kyrie Irving’s money.

Following Thursday’s shambolic press conference in which Irving failed to offer an apology for his retweet of an anti-Semitic film or state that he doesn’t hold any anti-Semitic beliefs, leading the Nets to suspend Irving indefinitely, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt became the latest figure to cut ties with Irving.

“We were optimistic, but after watching the debacle of a press conference, it’s clear that Kyrie feels no accountability for his actions,” Greenblatt tweeted. “@ADL cannot in good conscience accept his donation.”

A day prior, the ADL released a joint statement with the Nets and Irving in which both team and player pledged $500,000 to the organization. In that statement, Irving took responsibility for the retweet, but did not directly apologize.

It turned out that was not a building block, but a precursor to Irving burning any goodwill he had built up by having his camp speak to the ADL.

Greenblatt added that he supported the Nets’ suspension of Irving.

“Good for @BrooklynNets,” Greenblatt tweeted. “@KyrieIrving has been given ample opportunity to do the right thing, apologize and condemn #antisemitism. He has failed at almost every step along the way. The suspension is well-deserved.”

It is unclear whether the ADL will still be accepting the donation from the Nets, or whether it will go ahead with holding community conversations in conjunction with the organization at the Barclays Center, as mentioned in Wednesday’s joint statement.

We were optimistic but after watching the debacle of a press conference, it’s clear that Kyrie feels no accountability for his actions. November 4, 2022

Greenblatt was especially perturbed at Irving sidestepping the direct question of whether he holds any anti-Semitic beliefs, to which he answered twice, “I cannot be anti-Semitic if I know where I come from.”

“The answer to the question, ‘Do you have any antisemitic beliefs’ is always ‘NO’ without equivocation,” Greenblatt tweeted. “We took @KyrieIrving at his word when he said he took responsibility, but today he did not make good on that promise. Kyrie clearly has a lot of work to do.”