NBA commentators and former players have weighed in on the controversy surrounding Kyrie Irving.
Due to NYC’s COVID-19 injection mandate, Irving can’t enter the team’s practice facility or arena.
The Brooklyn Nets decided to suspend Irving, citing the organization doesn’t want a player to be a half-participant.
In light of Irving’s suspension, many compared his situation to Magic Johnson’s HIV diagnosis as a player.
https://twitter.com/JaySchiffman/status/1449004235027357719
https://twitter.com/MissTerriB/status/1449126593796915205
Yet another example of how they misuse terms like socialist, communist, and fascist, at an attempt to insult, but it flops miserably.
Marjorie Taylor Greene called the NBA 'fascist' for allowing Magic Johnson to 'play with HIV' whi… https://t.co/nCHpm7Q4Eh via @Yahoo— Dr Freckles (@slmbryant) October 15, 2021
Magic Johnson played in the NBA while he was HIV positive, but Kyrie Irving who doesn't even have Covid-19, is too dangerous to be around because he's not vaccinated.
— Miles Commodore (@miles_commodore) October 20, 2021
For the record, forcing someone to take an experimental injection as a condition of employment is authoritarian.
The NBA allowed Johnson to play while he was HIV positive.
But many go crazy about Irving playing today unvaccinated from COVID-19.
Neither should cause controversy.
In the 1990’s the NBA allowed Magic Johnson to play with HIV. That was the right call based on the risk protocol. Now Kyrie Irving can’t play without the covid vaccine, which provides zero risk to any healthy adult. This is all madness.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 13, 2021
Yet, Irving has received ample criticism for his ‘selfish’ decision not to get vaccinated.
"The Brooklyn Nets need to get rid of Kyrie Irving. He got to go!"
—@stephenasmith pic.twitter.com/hdFSTUI5jW
— First Take (@FirstTake) October 12, 2021
Some claim that HIV and COVID-19 aren’t valid comparisons due to COVID being a respiratory virus.
However, there wasn’t controversy when Michael Jordan played with influenza (another contagious respiratory virus).
https://twitter.com/adornedbyzena/status/1448681445074083843
Nobody made a big deal about Jordan breathing on players, coaches, or teammates in fear of spreading the virus.
Why the fuss about Irving playing unvaccinated from a virus with a survival rate comparable to the flu?
NBA players are among the healthiest individuals in American society.
Their risk of severe COVID-19 complications is extremely low.
Getting vaccinated from this virus shouldn’t be a topic of conversation.
When you consider Brandon Goodwin’s health complications following the COVID-19 jab, NBA players should question receiving this experimental injection.
However, it’s still deemed selfish to NOT get injected with this toxic jab.
Even Magic Johnson himself described not receiving the COVID-19 jab as a selfish act.
Watch this clip and reaction below:
“You can’t be there if you don’t get vaccinated”: @MagicJohnson is an ambassador for the NBA’s 75th season, and he’s using his platform to encourage players to get the COVID vaccine. pic.twitter.com/ardzIs2WGq
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) October 19, 2021
https://twitter.com/MeganMcGlover/status/1450644657587765254
Seems like an extremely hypocritical statement.
What if someone has a severe adverse reaction to the COVID-19 jab and can’t play anymore?
Are they not there for their teammates too?
Or, are the ones coercing others to take this experimental injection control freaks pushing an agenda?
Audacy reported:
“You have said to your teammates, ‘I’m gonna be there for you,’” Johnson said to CBS News. “Well, you can’t be there if you don’t get vaccinated. You’re letting them down. And then that hurts our chances of winning a championship. I would never do that to my teammates. Never.”
The Lakers revealed their entire team is fully vaccinated. But the Brooklyn Nets announced last week that it would play games without Kyrie Irving. The point guard has not received the vaccine as mandated by New York City.
Johnson, who received his vaccine publicly in March, said he supports vaccination efforts and requirements.
“I got my two shots and made sure I put it out on social media,” the basketball legend said. “I wanted, especially my community to know, first of all, it’s safe. And the players, again, people listen to them, they follow them. That’s very important.”
CBS Pittsburgh highlighted the effort to vaccinate NBA players and the Black community:
Lakers superstar LeBron James at the start of training camp late last month confirmed that he has been vaccinated. In March, James said that his decision regarding whether or not to get vaccinated was a private one.
That silence prompted criticism from another Lakers legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who penned an essay on the subject earlier this month, in which he wrote, “LeBron is just plain wrong—and his being wrong could be deadly, especially to the Black community.”
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