Kyrie Irving denies claims that Jazz Arena security forced Rabbi Abremi Zippel and three other rabbis to remove pro-Jewish signs during Monday night's game at Utah State There is.
Irving spokesperson told Outkick On Wednesday night, the Mavericks star denied any complaints, saying, “There was no negative interaction in the way that Rabbi Zippel intended.”
The representative told the outlet that Irving had no contact with Zippel, who was sitting courtside at the Delta Center during Monday's game against the Mavs and the Jazz, and that signs will be removed from Irving and the Dallas sideline. He said he did not ask for it.
Irving's campaign also denied that members of the Mavericks had spoken with members of the Jazz to complain about a sign that read, “I'm Jewish and I'm Proud.”
Zippel explained his position to Outkick.
“In the tunnel, we were discussing the incident with executives from the Jazz organization, and one of them confirmed that the request to remove the sign came from the Dallas bench,” Zippel told the outlet. told. “He even named the Jazz's director of team security, who is not connected to arena security, who learned of the request from Dallas personnel and then relayed the request to arena security.”
Ravi, who calls himself a lifelong jazz fan, told the Salt Lake City Tribune They wanted to send a message to Irving after a security guard shared a link to a movie full of anti-Semitic tropes on Irving's social media accounts last year when Irving was a member of the Nets.
Irving was suspended by the Nets last season and missed eight games.
Monday's alleged incident began in the first quarter of the game when Irving went for an inbounds pass and noticed the sign.
Zippel told the Tribune that Irving looked at the sign and said, “Cool, I'm Jewish too,” before showing him his Star of David tattoo.
Zippel said he was annoyed by the comment but remained friendly.
But Zippel said that's when Irving became angry.
According to Ravi, Irving told him, “You can't bring that stuff into the game.”
From there, security approached the rabbis and eventually told them to put away the signs.
The Jazz acknowledged the situation in a statement released Tuesday, saying the signage violated their fan code of conduct.
“During an out-of-bounds play in the first quarter of yesterday's game between the Jazz and Dallas Mavericks, there was a group of people sitting courtside, and the sign sparked an interaction with the players that caused concern. and disrupted the progress of the match,” the statement read.
Irving's representative pointed to the Jazz's statement in a response to Outkick's request for comment.
“It was Arena/Utah Jazz protocol to require courtside patrons to remove their signs,” the representative said.
