'Fight antisemitism:' Protestors heckle Kyrie Irving at Nets game

A group of Jewish protestors was spotted at Monday's Nets game sitting courtside with T-shirts that read "Fight Antisemitism." They were responding to Kyrie Irving's recent support of the film, Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, which purportedly promotes antisemitism and general misinformation. 

Written, directed and produced by Ronald B. Dalton Jr., the film is based on a book of the same name that he wrote. The author-turned-director openly holds beliefs in line with the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, defined by the Anti-Defamation League as "a fringe religious movement that rejects widely accepted definitions of Judaism and asserts that people of color are the true children of Israel."

People were courtside at the Nets game wearing "Fight Antisemitism" shirts, this in the wake of Kyrie Irving's recent promotion of an antisemitic film on social media pic.twitter.com/GRCtDDHXCu

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 1, 2022

According to the New York Post, the group heckled Irving throughout the game, and in return, he gave them a thumbs up and said he was "thankful for you guys." 

Irving and the Nets' management have been doing PR damage control for the last several days since his comments about the film; for this reason, Irving was not able to have any direct interaction with the press on Monday night. 

A common thread

The beliefs expressed in Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, have come into the spotlight lately as Kanye West has become more outspoken on antisemitism - more specifically, his lack thereof. 

Kanye – now calling himself merely "Ye" – claimed in his infamous "death con 3" tweet in early October that he "actually can't be antisemitic because black people are actually Jew [sic] also"