afro-perspectives: DIRTY DOUBLE-STANDARDS: While KYRIE IRVING gets a boot in the ass, ALIBABA and AMAZON OLIGARCHS get a major pass

Kyrie Irving apologized. When will Joe Tsai?

Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving has apologized for his antisemitic episode. But Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai remains an unrepentant Chinese Communist Party supporter and no one seems to care.

Irving has partnered with the Anti-Defamation League and issued a statement about how he was wrong to promote an antisemitic book and movie on social media. Irving is not the first professional athlete to post antisemitic content on social media, and he likely won’t be the last, but he has said he would “take responsibility” for the post and continue to grow.

One of the men who condemned Irving’s comments was Tsai.

I’m disappointed that Kyrie appears to support a film based on a book full of anti-semitic disinformation. I want to sit down and make sure he understands this is hurtful to all of us, and as a man of faith, it is wrong to promote hate based on race, ethnicity or religion.
— Joe Tsai (@joetsai1999) October 29, 2022

Tsai’s company, Alibaba, has been used to build “an intrusive, omnipresent surveillance state that uses emerging technologies to track individuals with greater efficiency” in Xinjiang, China, where the CCP was committing its genocide of the Uyghurs.

☝WATCH: NBA Brooklyn Nets' owner Joe Tsai tied to China; Chinese labor camp detainee describes ordeal

He maintains that there are no human rights issues in China, and he allegedly tried to get then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey fired after Morey supported Hong Kong democracy protesters against the CCP regime.

Nets owner Joe Tsai rips Rockets GM Daryl Morey for supporting Hong Kong demonstrators https://t.co/EgvtwXjXCY pic.twitter.com/pSIZuB6SeJ
— New York Post (@nypost) October 7, 2019

Irving, who was already the target of media ire for refusing to take a COVID-19 vaccine, was condemned across the sports media landscape. That includes a statement from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. Irving has become the most targeted figure in the Nets organization due to his real and perceived mistakes, but no one says a word about the team’s owner being a staunch supporter of the closest thing we have seen to Nazi Germany.

Outside of one ESPN profile that mentioned Tsai’s views of China and his company’s ties to concentration camps, you will find practically no mention of the Nets owner and his views of the Chinese Communist Party in mainstream sports media. Irving dominated headlines in the Washington Post and New York Times, but Tsai has only earned brief mentions for his public comments in 2019 about Morey and Hong Kong.

None of this is to say that Irving did not deserve condemnation for his antisemitic posts, or even that the reaction was disproportionate. But it is undeniable that establishment media and sports media blow up instances of bigotry or human rights when it comes to the NBA up until China is mentioned. The Chinese Communist Party is the worst human rights abuser on the planet, but you will see more headlines if an owner supports the GOP than you will of Tsai’s support for the CCP.

Antisemitic social media posts are bad. Actively supporting an ongoing genocide (through supplying surveillance technology and providing rhetorical cover) is worse. Perhaps now that Irving has walked back his posts, we can bring the spotlight to the billionaire who pays his salary while parroting propaganda for the most murderous regime on Earth.

MORE:

Allegations against Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai resurface about his company "funding genocide": All you need to about the Uyghur Muslims controversy

Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai is the face of NBA's uneasy China relationship

Joe Tsai's Alibaba financially supported China's 'cultural genocide' of Uyghur Muslims: report

Nets owner Joe Tsai reportedly tried to get Daryl Morey fired over tweet

Enes Kanter calls Joe Tsai ‘spineless ... puppet’ of Beijing in latest tweet on China

An Insight into Life Under the Chinese Government’s Pervasive Surveillance System

Why Hasn’t the U.N. Accused China of Genocide in Xinjiang?

Amid Kyrie Irving Suspension, Amazon Is Still Profiting From Antisemitic Movie NBA Star Tweeted

Amazon.com has managed to avoid accusations of supporting antisemitism despite selling antisemitic items.

Bruce C.T. Wright | NEWSONE

Kyrie Irving’s suspension from the NBA came one week after the basketball star posted a link to a controversial movie that has been called antisemitic. But as the Brooklyn Nets’ starting point guard begins sitting out at least five games for the offense, the movie in question remains available for viewing and for sale on Amazon.com, the e-tail giant that has seemingly emerged unscathed in the antisemitism scandal that is still unfolding.

The Nets announced Thursday night that Irving “ is currently unfit to be associated with” the team because it said he has “refused to unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs, nor acknowledge specific hateful material in the film.” The Nets said Irving would not “clarify” his views on the film and displayed a “failure to disavow antisemitism when given a clear opportunity to do so.”

“I'm not the one that made the documentary”

- Kyrie Irving

pic.twitter.com/1MXVrWKD3s
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) November 3, 2022

Two days after Irving posted the tweet in question, he took to Twitter again to reject the claim that he is antisemitic and said he “meant no disrespect to anyone’s religious beliefs.”

On Thursday night, following the announcement of his suspension, Irving issued a formal apology to the Jewish community.

“To All Jewish families and Communities that are hurt and affected from my post, I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize,” Irving wrote in an Instagram post before adding: “I want to clarify any confusion on where I stand fighting against Anti- semticism [sic] by apologizing for posting the documentary without context and a factual explanation outlining the specific beliefs in the Documentary I agreed with and disagreed with. I had no intentions [sic] to disrespect any Jewish cultural history regarding the Holocaust or perpetuate any hate. I am learning from this unfortunate event and hope we can find understanding between us all. I am no different than any other human being. I am a seeker of truth and knowledge, and I know who I Am.”

Irving had already agreed to pay $500,000 to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) before his suspension was announced. The ADL announced Thursday night that it couldn’t “in good conscience” accept the payment.

To be sure, the director of the documentary is a holocaust-denier who included a fake quote attributed to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. At face value, those facts are undeniably antisemitic.

All of which begs the following question from critics: Why does it appear that Irving is being singled out while Amazon.com and its multi-billionaire owner Jeff Bezos continue to profit from not only the film but also several versions of the book adaptation?

Former professional basketball player and current analyst for ESPN Jay Williams is among those who raised that point days before Irving’s suspension was announced.

“There deserves to be more context from Kyrie,” Williams said Wednesday during ESPN’s “First Take” show. “It’s irresponsible to amplify messages from Hitler – yes, this is true – so why it is on a major platform” like Amazon.com? “The platform is profiting and promoting it to billions of people,” Williams added, suggesting that point “is being missed here.”

Williams made sure to say that Amazon.com selling and profiting from the film and books “doesn’t excuse” Irving at all. But he said he felt the issue needed to be included in the larger discussion about Irving’s actions, seeing as he wouldn’t have been able to tweet something that wasn’t made available online in the first place.

Jay Williams believes Amazon should receive the same outrage that's being directed at Kyrie Irving pic.twitter.com/3MI5Hrzq6Q
— Brandon Contes (@BrandonContes) November 2, 2022

Perhaps exacerbating that point is the fact that this isn’t Amazon’s first antisemitic rodeo as it has previously been forced to remove similarly antisemitic content following public outrage not unlike what we are seeing with Irving.

It was only in 2020 when public pressure compelled Amazon to remove from its website an illustrated children’s book by the founder of an antisemitic newspaper that was founded during the Nazi era.

Two years prior, a customer review that remains live accused Amazon.com of “selling hate speech” and “using Antisemitism as a marketing tool” for selling the book in question.

“This disgusting and vile book was written to indoctrinate nazi youth and is still used as a hatred primer for children,” the review began before asking: Why is Amazon supplying and profiting from a kindle version? Why is Amazon selling hateful propaganda to children?

The reviewer went on to accuse Amazon of being “a company making money off of racism” and “sponsoring and disseminating Antisemitism. This is despicable. Amazon should know better and must stop spreading hate.”

Amazon apparently ignored that criticism until the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum spoke out in 2020, after which it took just three days for the book to be removed from Amazon.

However, this time around, there hasn’t appeared to be any such campaign of pressure being applied to Amazon to have it remove “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America” from its website.

Make no mistake: Irving has been a magnet for such controversies throughout his career by pushing widely debunked and false conspiracy theories that range from insisting the world is flat to speculation about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to the COVID-19 vaccine, and now this. He’s also been widely ridiculed for such statements.

Meanwhile, though, “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America” not only remains available to rent on Amazon Prime for $11.99 and for sale for $49.99, but it is also being sold in book form along with an apparent sequel – both of which are at the top of the best-sellers list under the “African American Demographics Study” genre.

Neither the video nor the books have any type of disclaimer appended about antisemitism.

A request sent to Amazon for comment was not immediately returned.

MORE:

Jay Williams wants same Kyrie Irving outrage directed at Amazon for distributing antisemitic film: "I don’t hear any of that talk around Jeff Bezos and Amazon. I hear everybody skewing their anger towards Kyrie for taking a picture of it and tweeting about it."

ESPN analyst CALLS OUT Jeff Bezos & Amazon for profiting off of film that got Kyrie Irving SUSPENDED

AMAZON GETS A PASS WHILE KYRIE IRVING GETS BURIED FOR ‘HEBREWS TO NEGROES’

The real reason why the NBA, NETS and the MEDIA is DESTROYING Kyrie Irving instead of Jeff Bezos

If we are at a place in 2022 where a Black man in America cannot share a link to a movie on Amazon Prime, which allows the controversial film on its platform, we are no longer America. Why does white-owned Amazon get a pass while Kyrie loses his career? Doesn’t it make more sense for people to be upset with those who put such antisemitism in the marketplace—people like multibillionaire Jeff Bezos, who owns Amazon?

Why Jeff Bezos and Amazon (not Kyrie Irving) Are the REAL Anti-Semites

How an Amateur Documentary Got Onto Amazon Prime and Led to Kyrie Irving’s Suspension

AMAZON STILL CARRYING ANTISEMITIC FILM KYRIE TWEETED OUT

Sales Spike For Antisemitic Book Touted By Kyrie Irving