The Dallas Mavericks star allegedly ordered four rabbis seated courtside at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City to take down their “I’m a Jew and I’m proud” placards, but Kyrie Irving’s agent refuted the claims on Wednesday.
Avrami Zippel, a fervent Utah Jazz fan, stated that while Irving and the Jewish community had previously had disagreements, he and the other rabbis wanted to demonstrate their pride by having Irving in town for the game.
Zippel, however, asserted that he complained to Mavericks security after Irving allegedly made a comment regarding the placard during the game. According to Zippel, Jazz security arrived at that very moment to inspect their tickets and instructed them to store the signs.
Irving’s representative denied the accusations.
The Jazz released a statement regarding the event on Tuesday.
“The Utah Jazz Code of Conduct was established to ensure that there are no interruptions or distractions during games. We will ask them to take down any signs that become distracting or interfere with a player’s interaction, no matter where they are in the arena, the team stated.
“A group sitting courtside during an out-of-bounds player in the first quarter of yesterday’s Jazz game against the Dallas Mavericks engaged in a conversation with a player that caused a distraction and obstructed a play of the game. Following usual security procedure, the fans were requested to remove theirsignals. The part-time worker was wrong when she told the fans that the issue was with the sign’s content.
“The issue was the disruptive interaction caused by usage of the signs, not the content of the signs.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Mavericks for comment, but they did not get back to them right away.Zippel questioned if any other sign on X would have been viewed as a “distraction.”
“Bottom line: there was one person, in a building of 18,000+, that was triggered by sign that says ‘I’m a Jew and I’m proud’,” stated the author. “The true issue that needs to be asked is why that disturbs him so much that it initiates a conversation.
Sadly, the Jazz chose to side with the guy who was provoked and stepped up their game rather than simply brushing this off as a little misunderstanding and moving on.
