Jaylen Brown clarifies tweet applauding extremist group's support of Kyrie Irving
BOSTON -- Celtics star Jaylen Brown has been outspoken in his belief that he had issues with the Nets suspending Kyrie Irving. On Sunday, Irving returned to the court, while an extremist group -- Israel United in Christ -- gathered outside the arena.
Brown saw a video of this group on Twitter and quote-tweeted the video, adding the caption, "Energy."
Later on Sunday, after being informed that the group has and does push forward numerous antisemitic beliefs while being identified by the Anti-Defamation League as an "an extreme and antisemitic sect of Black Hebrew Israelites," Brown said he mistakenly believed the people in the video were from Black fraternity Omega Psi Psi.
Brown did not delete his initial tweet, nor did he say anything about the group that he did actually share with his 650,000-plus followers.
On Monday, during the Celtics' shootaround in Chicago, Brown was asked to comment on the matter.
"Yeah, I didn't have my reading glasses on. I didn't know who that group was," Brown said. "My instinct when I first saw that video is I come from a community torn every day by systemic representations and images of violence in our community. So when I saw that video, it struck a chord, just for different reasons. I saw a large group of people from our community showing support for [Irving] and his return. So me being proud of that support and being proud of our community for doing that does not mean I endorse or celebrate some of the things that were being done or being said in my community."
Brown referenced the recent death of rapper Takeoff as a result of the "issues that I think stem from representations of violence in our community."
"So my instincts when I saw that was I didn't notice which group it was. I just noticed the support. And that's what I commented on. And I reemphasize that I don't think that everything that was being said or done is something that I endorse or represent," Brown stated. "But in the future, when I'm a father -- I'm not yet -- I would like my son and daughter to see more representations of people of color, brown people and Black people standing together on issues, rather than seeing images of violence in our media, in our music, in our movies, that we don't entirely promote or profit from. Those are my thoughts, and I think that any media group or person in an attempt to discontort my words or discontort my attempts to support someone clearly has an agenda. Those are my thoughts this morning."
In this case, Brown said he was both proud of the support and proud of the community for showing that support, while stating that he doesn't necessarily support everything that particular group may believe. Brown also explained why he did not delete his initial tweet after learning about the group that was in the video.
"Removing the tweet would be removing my support for [Irving] and his return. That was what my agenda was when I tweeted it," Brown said. "And I think anybody trying to discontort or misconstrue where my support was has a separate agenda at hand. And that's not what I was trying to do at all."
