Utah Jazz told rabbis to remove 'I'm a Jew and I'm proud' signs during game involving Kyrie Irving
A group of Utah rabbis were told to remove signs that declared "I'm a Jew and I'm proud" from a basketball game on Monday involving Kyrie Irving
A group of Utah rabbis were told to remove signs that declared "I'm a Jew and I'm proud" from a basketball game on Monday because they were told it was causing a distraction to the players.
Rabbi Avremi Zippel is a longstanding Utah Jazz fan and was at the Delta Center Monday night to see the team face the Dallas Mavericks.
He and three other rabbis brought the signs to protest the involvement of Kyrie Irving, now a Mavericks player, who was suspended from the Brooklyn Nets in 2022 for tweeting a link to a movie widely considered to be antisemitic and for initially failing to disavow it.
The Anti-Defamation League rejected Irving's subsequent donation of $500,000 and Nike severed its commercial ties with him.
Zippel said in a string of posts on X that Irving spotted the sign early in the first quarter and told him: "No need to bring that to a game." Zippel said Irving then spoke to Mavericks security staff, before Jazz officials came to check the rabbis' tickets and tell them to put the signs away.
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