Utah's rabbi said he and three other rabbis said “I'm Jewish and I'm proud” as the Utah Jazz played the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night at the Delta Center. He said he was asked to remove the sign.
Kyrie Irving posted a link to a movie containing anti-Semitic material and attended a postgame press conference wearing a keffiyeh in November after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel. , which has caused an uproar in the Jewish community over the past year or so.
Rabbi Abremi Zippel suggested that he and the other rabbis wanted to show pride in Irving, who was in town for the game. However, Zippel said that minutes into the game, Irving allegedly made a remark to them about the sign and then went to Mavericks security to complain.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Kyrie Irving, No. 11 of the Dallas Mavericks, watches a game against the Utah Jazz at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on January 1, 2024. (Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
According to Zippel, at that moment a Jazz security guard came over to check the ticket and told him to put away the sign.
“It's nothing new to me that Kyrie Irving is a coward with a goldfish backbone,” Zippel wrote in another post. “The fact that the Mavericks organization covers him is unfortunately not new to me.”
The Jazz released a statement on Tuesday.
“The Utah Jazz Code of Conduct is set in such a way that the game can be played without distractions or disruptions. No matter where someone is in the arena, there will be no distractions or interactions with players that will cause a spark. If there is a sign that does so, we ask that it be removed,'' the team said.
“When a player went out of bounds during the first quarter of yesterday's game between the Jazz and the Dallas Mavericks, the sign triggered an interaction with the player from a group sitting courtside, which created a distraction. As a next step in standard security protocols, fans were asked to remove the signs, but the part-time employee who told the fans that the content of the signs was in question was incorrect. I did.
Nuggets' Aaron Gordon explains dog bite that required 21 stitches: “I probably ate a little too much eggnog''
“The problem was not the content of the sign, but the destructive interactions caused by its use.”
The Mavericks did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Mr. Zippel wondered whether other signs of X would be considered “distractions.”
“Bottom line: In a building housing more than 18,000 people, there was one person who woke up because of a sign that read 'I'm Jewish and I'm Proud,'” he wrote. . “Why does it bother him so much and why does it cause an interaction? That should be the real question everyone is asking.
“Unfortunately, rather than quietly explaining this as a misunderstanding and letting it pass as a minor incident, the Jazz doubled down on standing by the player who triggered it.
Luka Samanic, No. 19 of the Utah Jazz, drives toward the basket during a game against the Dallas Mavericks on January 1, 2024. (Melissa Meiszulzak/NBAE via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“That's unfortunate for me.”
Follow Fox News Digital X sports broadcast and subscribe Fox News Sports Huddle Newsletter.
