ESPNs highest-paid commentator has publicly reversed course on his harsh criticism of Kyrie Irvings refusal to comply with New York Citys COVID-19 vaccine mandate during the 202122 NBA season, calling his own past comments a serious mistake.
According to ESPNs own broadcast, Stephen A. Smith, who once denounced Irving as selfish for declining the shot and missing all Brooklyn Nets home games, interrupted his vacation to deliver an on-air mea culpa after watching Dr. Anthony Faucis recent oversight testimony on Capitol Hill. Fauci, who pleaded the Fifth 111 times in total, performed so poorly that even Smiths longtime media ally Chris Cuomo conceded it looks like Fauci is hiding something, a stunning admission that has only deepened public skepticism about the COVID regime many Democrats still defend.
Thats when Smith realized its a time for reflection and to look at things differently, he told viewers, acknowledging that the media and political establishment may have gone too far in punishing dissenters. Theres several people that we all owe apologies to but none more so than the apology that I owe to Kyrie Irving, Smith admitted, adding, This is not about him, the basketball player. This is about him, the man.
The reality is Kyrie Irving, no matter what we think, may have been MORE RIGHT than we have given him credit for and unquestionably was more vilified than he deserved, Smith said, a striking rebuke of the heavy-handed mandates championed by blue-state politicians and their media allies. I watched Dr. Fauci on Capitol Hill yesterday, and the person I thought about most was Kyrie Irving, he continued, drawing a direct line between Faucis evasiveness and the treatment of Americans who resisted government pressure.
Kyrie Irving stood out in my mind because of the heat that he was taking He refused the vaccine. New York Citys mandate made him ineligible for home games, and he linked his stance to people losing jobs over vaccine mandates, Smith recalled, underscoring how Irvings protest echoed the plight of countless workers fired for exercising medical freedom. In my opinion, particularly hindsight-wise, it didnt make him stubborn or selfish. It made him brave. His willingness to stand up and say, Nah, Im not doing that, Smith said, calling it just a time for reflection to look at things differently.
Smith closed with a blunt acknowledgment of the medias role in the smear campaign: It turns out that, no matter what the truth is behind all of this, Kyrie Irving did nobody wrong. We did him wrong. I did him wrong. And for that, Im sincerely sorry, he added, as Irvings stand which cost him $11,400,000 in game checks and a $100,000,000 contract extension now stands as arguably the largest financial sacrifice ever made by an athlete over a matter of conscience, a reminder that individual liberty can come at a steep price when government power goes unchecked.
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