Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — the main scorer in NBA historical past — dunked on Kyrie Irving in an essay accusing the Nets guard of “gelatinous ignorance.”
He additionally referred to as on customers to offer the 30-year-old ball handler the hook following Irving’s promotion of a clip exhibiting “Infowars” host Alex Jones babbling a conspiracy concept.
“Kyrie Irving’s thought process is an example of what happens when the education system fails,” the 75-year-old NBA Hall of Famer wrote Sunday on the Substack on-line platform.
While Irving has a historical past of dabbling in disinformation, Abdul-Jabbar was referencing his Instagram publish final month sharing a 2002 clip of Jones claiming a “New World Order” would launch “diseases, and viruses, and plagues” upon the populace, seemingly referencing a baseless conspiracy concept concerning the unfold of COVID-19.
“Alex Jones tried to warn us,” Irving’s publish mentioned.
Abdul-Jabbar, who has criticized Irving’s reasoning expertise up to now, wrote that the ballplayer “is back and more destructive, insensitive, and just plain silly than before.”
Jones, as Abdul-Jabbar famous in his essay, is being sued for damages this week in a Connecticut court docket, the place it’s already been decided he falsely reported the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School bloodbath was a hoax meant to drum up assist for gun management.
“Kyrie Irving would be dismissed as a comical buffoon if it weren’t for his influence over young people who look up to athletes,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote.
The 7-foot-2 former Los Angeles Lakers celebrity attended UCLA from 1966 to 1969 and has since been an schooling advocate. Irving spent a yr at Duke University after attending highschool in Montclaire, N.J. According to Abdul-Jabbar, one of the best ways for society to play protection in opposition to Irving’s behavior of pushing oddball ideology is to cease doing enterprise with firms that do enterprise with Irving.
“Irving does not seem to have the capacity to change, but we have the capacity to keep fighting against his brand of destructive behavior,” he mentioned.
In a 2017 podcast, Irving ranted about how “they lie to us,” close to the form of the Earth, which he believed to be flat.
“Do your own research,” he mentioned throughout a radio interview the place he doubled down on his drivel.
Irving apologized in 2018 for sharing that pseudo-science and acknowledged his weird conspiracy theories are higher fitted to “intimate conversations” than public statements. In 2021, Irving was unable to affix the Nets for dwelling video games as a result of he refused to get vaccinated on the top of the COVID-19 pandemic. He informed the Daily News his determination was about “freedom” and that he didn’t need to adhere to “government controls.”
The Athletic reported that the Lakers expressed curiosity in buying Irving earlier than the Nets star exercised a virtually $37 million choice to remain in Brooklyn for an additional yr. He sometimes shares his views on spirituality and present affairs on social media.
“HUMANITY is at war,” Irving tweeted on the finish of August.
Abdul-Jabbar wrapped up his essay by blaming Irving for tarnishing “the reputations of all athletes who strive to be seen as more than dumb jocks.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com