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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Charlie Wilson

NBA megastar Kyrie Irving has donated more than $250,000 to charities after suspension

Kyrie Irving has donated more than $250,000 to a number of charities and fundraisers over the past month.

It comes after the 30-year-old superstar was heavily criticised, fined and suspended after he did not apologise for sharing a link to an antisemitic film on social media. The film 'Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America' features Holocaust denial as well as a number of deeply offensive criticism of the Jewish faith.

Irving did apologise after speaking to NBA commissioner Adam Silver, as well as Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai, who suspended him for at least five games and gave him a list of steps he would need to take before returning to the team.

The steps included a donation of $500,000 (£427,574) to anti-hate causes, completing sensitivity and antisemitic training, while the Nets requested him to meet with the Anti-Defamation League and local Jewish community leaders.

And seemingly doing all of these, as he was allowed to return to the team, Irving has continued to give back - donating over a quarter of a million dollars for a number of fundraisers.

Irving gave $50,000 each to a family of a teenage boy who was killed by police, Little Twigs as well as giving $130,000 to the family of a woman who died in Mexico under suspicious circumstances.

He also gave $50,000 to the family of University of Virginia's Devin Chandler, who was killed in the shooting when a gunman opened fire inside a bus.

Irving has impressed on the court and done some great things off of it (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

In his apology for sharing the film and offending the Jewish community, he wrote: "I meant no harm to any person, to any group of people and yeah, this is a big moment for me because I’m able to learn throughout this process that the power of my voice is very strong, the influence that I have within my community is very strong, and I want to be responsible for that.

"In order to do that, you have to admit when you’re wrong and in instances where you hurt people and it impacts them. I don’t stand for anything close to hate speech or antisemitism or anything that is going against the human race.

"I feel like we all should have an opportunity to speak for ourselves when things are assumed about us and I feel it was necessary for me to stand in this place and take accountability for my actions, because there was a way I should have handled all this.

"As I look back and reflect when I had the opportunity to offer my deep regrets to anyone that felt threatened or felt hurt by what I posted, that wasn’t my intent at all.”

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