Nike permanently ditches Kyrie Irving as it cut ties over antisemitic comments

Nike Inc. announced on Monday, Dec. 5, it has finally made the decision to sever its ties with the 30-year-old National Basketball Association player Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets. This means his contract with the company is no longer in effect.

Nike and Irving’s relationship came to a halt after the basketball star posted antisemitic comments on social media. His posts were immediately criticized, but it took him some time before issuing an apology and stating he was against antisemitism since he was refusing to do so at first.

Shetellia Riley Irving, the Brooklyn Net player’s agent, told CNBC that the decision to cut ties was mutual. “We have mutually decided to part ways and wish Nike the best in their future endeavors,” she said.

Kyrie himself did not comment on the news of Nike’s contract termination but posted a short clip on Twitter. The video was captioned in a way that suggests he is referring to the aborted contract with the footwear and sports apparel manufacturing giant. “There’s nothing more priceless than being free,” the words on his video reads.

In any case, Nike’s announcement of officially dropping Kyrie comes just a month after it suspended its agreement with the basketball player. As a result, the market release of Kyrie 8 sneakers which was already on the schedule for late November, was also cancelled.

At that time, the company posted a statement saying, “At Nike, we believe there is no place for hate speech and we condemn any form of antisemitism.”

Moreover, Phil Knight, the company’s founder, said in an interview in November that he thinks Kyrie has truly stepped over the line by unleashing those antisemitic remarks. Kyrie has been in contract with Nike since 2014, and he was also suspended by the team he has been playing for, for the same reason.

The Brooklyn Nets said that Irving failed to “unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs.” Finally, Sports Illustrated reported that Nike's decision to end its contract with the player did not come overnight. This is because there were already cracks in their business relationship. To be more specific, their relations started to sour during the Summer of 2021 when the basketball player accused Nike of excluding him from the design of his Kyrie 8 signature shoe.

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