LeBron James weighed in on the controversy surrounding former teammate Kyrie Irving following the Los Angeles Lakers' 130-116 loss Friday night to the Utah Jazz.
The NBA star made clear he did not condone Irving's actions to post a link to a documentary containing antisemitic material. Irving has since been suspended, without pay, for a minimum of five games by the Brooklyn Nets.
"What Kyrie did caused some harm to a lot of people and he has since apologized," James told reporters. "He caused some harm and I think it's unfortunate, but I don't stand on the position to harm people when it comes to your voice or your platform or anything.
"So it doesn't matter what colour your skin is, how tall you are, what position you are in, if you are promoting or soliciting or saying harmful things to any community that harm people, I don't respect that and I don't condone it."
James admitted he wasn't sure what is next for Irving, who was also handed a suspension by his footwear sponsor Nike. The apparel company — with whom he's produced a sneaker line since 2014 — will no longer launch his newest offering, the Kyrie 8.
"I don't know. Because at the end of the day, Kyrie is his own man," James said. "He stands up in front of the media and speaks. He is a man and (from) a great family.
"He's not a kid no more, he's 30. He just said that the other day in his presser. I was like, that's insane, I don't know the direction, the steps that he takes, but he's apologized for what he said and I hope that he understands that what he said was harmful to a lot of people. And we as humans none of us are perfect, but I hope that he understands what he did and the actions that he took are just harmful to a lot of people."
James also added he pulled an episode of his television series The Shop from the air that included Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West. Ye has also been in the midst of controversy for antisemitic remarks that resulted in many of his business partnerships, including his multi-billion dollar collaboration with Adidas, coming to an end.
"It's simple, I don't condone any hate to any kind to any race," James said. "You guys know where I stand and it's part of the reason why I didn't air The Shop episode, why we kicked that out of the archives because there were some hate conversations going on there and I don't represent that. There's no place in the world for it. No one can benefit from that."
