Nike Officially Ends Partnership With Kyrie Irving

The following week, Nike co-founder Phil Knight told CNBC his company’s relationship with Kyrie was likely over.

“Kyrie stepped over the line. It’s kind of that simple,” he said during the Nov. 10 interview. “He made some statements that we just can’t abide by and that’s why we ended the relationship. And I was fine with that.”

On Nov. 3, the Brooklyn Nets announced that Kyrie was suspended from the team without pay after he did not take a stance to condemn antisemitism. According to NBC News, in a since-deleted tweet, the 30-year-old posted a link to 2018 movie Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America that contained rhetoric against Jewish people.

“Over the last several days, we have made repeated attempts to work with Kyrie Irving to help him understand the harm and danger of his words and actions, which began with him publicizing a film containing deeply disturbing antisemitic hate,” the team said in a statement. “We believed that taking the path of education in this challenging situation would be the right one and thought that we had made progress with our joint commitment to eradicating hate and intolerance.”

That same day, Kyrie posted a since-deleted apology to Instagram, noting that he was “deeply sorry” for the post.