NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley believes disgraced Nets star Kyrie Irving should be allowed to RETURN to the court – but admits it was right for him to be suspended as he ‘should be called out for saying something stupid’
- Kyrie Irving was suspended by the Brooklyn Nets for his ‘anti-Semitic’ tweet
- Hall of Famer Charles Barkley insisted it was right for Irving to be suspended
- But he claimed the disgraced star deserves to return to the court after the ban
- Barkley said he hates the term cancel culture because ‘few people are cancelled’
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NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley has joined the list of NBA personalities who believe Kyrie Irving should be allowed to return from his suspension.
Irving was banned by the team ‘until he satisfies a series of objective remedial measures that address the harmful impact of his conduct’ after posting a link to the Amazon page of a film based on a book described as ‘anti-Semitic’.
He was suspended for at least five games and served that minimum ban on Saturday, but owner Joe Tsai said Irving still had ‘work to do’ in their win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Irving sat out the Nets’ 116-103 loss to the LA Lakers Sunday and also did not play vs. the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday.
However, Barkley insisted that Irving should be allowed to return to the court.
‘People have the right to feel and say what they want,’ Barkley said on CNN. ‘We have freedom of speech, but there are repercussions when you say certain things.
Charles Barkley has called for Kyrie Irving to return to the court from his suspension
I don’t know Kyrie Irving. I don’t know if he’s a good guy or a bad guy. I think he’s been suspended – rightfully so – and I think he should come back and play in the NBA.’
‘This thing with free speech has really gotten out of hand, Don [Lemon],’ Barkley added. ‘You can’t just go around insulting people just because it’s freedom of speech.’
Barkley was then asked if he felt this situation was warranted by ‘cancel culture,’ which led Barkley to push back against the term all together.
‘I don’t like using the term “cancel culture” because I don’t want anyone canceled,’ Barkley responded.
‘But you should be called to the carpet if you said something wrong. I don’t believe somebody should lose their job or things like that.
‘But you should be called out because you said something stupid.
I’ve been called out many times and I have no problem with that. But I hate the term “cancel culture” because very few people are canceled.’
Kyrie Irving missed his seventh game in a row as he remains suspended by the Brooklyn Nets
Irving ignited controversy by tweeting a link to the Amazon page for the 2018 film ‘Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America.’
The movie is based on a 2015 book by the same name, which Rolling Stone described as ‘venomously anti-Semitic.’
Since posting the Amazon link to the film on Twitter, Irving quarreled with the media, telling reporters ‘I’m not going to stand down on anything that I believe in.’ He then appeared to backtrack by deleting the post without an explanation.
After days of competing statements from Irving, the Nets, Tsai, and Silver, the club suspended the All-Star for at least five games.
The Brooklyn Nets star caught the attention for publicizing the 2018 film which is based on a book of the same name that has been described as ‘venomously anti-Semitic’
Nets owner Joe Tsai countered any noise related to indefinitely suspending Irving from the team
Irving, who has been criticized for failing to apologize, finally said he was sorry in a statement, but only after he got his minimum five-game ban from the Nets.
The Nets released an angry and frustrated statement earlier this month, saying the decision to suspend Irving stemmed from his ongoing lack of apology, the latest refusal coming after an awful media appearance.
While Tsai told The Post on Saturday: ‘He still has work to do.
‘He has to show people that he’s sorry.
‘What’s important — and what people miss — is that he only apologized after he was suspended.’
Irving’s return date to the team remains unclear.
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