Why did Nike cut off Kyrie Irving?

Nike severed ties officially with Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving in 2022.

Irving is no longer under contract with the footwear giant after he posted on X, formerly Twitter, a link to a movie that has been described as “antisemitic” and then refused to say, for a time, that he was against antisemitism.

A Nike spokesperson did not make any additional comment immediately about the decision and neither did representatives for Irving.

The decision to cut ties with Irving comes a month after Nike suspended its agreement with the longtime guard and announced it wouldn’t release the latest version of his sneakers — Kyrie 8.

The company, in a statement, at the time said at Nike, they believed there was no place for hate speech and condemned any form of “antisemitism”.

In an interview with CNBC last month, Nike founder Phil Knight said that he believed Irving had “crossed the line”.

The Kyrie 8 was scheduled to be released in November, 2022. Irving has been under contract with the brand since 2014.

The Brooklyn Nets, where Irving played at the time since 2019, at the time suspended Irving for at least five games without pay after the post.

Adam Silver, the NBA Commissioner, had sought an apology from Irving and when it did not come, said the athlete was unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets.

The two had later met and Irving apologized via Instagram. He later told reporters he does not stand for anything remotely near to hate speech or antisemitism or anything that was going against the human race.