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A group of Utah rabbis were told to remove signs that declared “I’m a Jew and I’m proud” from a basketball game on Monday because they were told it was causing a distraction to the players.
Rabbi Avremi Zippel is a longstanding Utah Jazz fan and was at the Delta Center Monday night to see the team face the Dallas Mavericks.
He and three other rabbis brought the signs to protest the involvement of Kyrie Irving, now a Mavericks player, who was suspended from the Brooklyn Nets<\/a> in 2022 for tweeting a link to a movie widely considered to be antisemitic and for initially failing to disavow it.
The Anti-Defamation League rejected Irving’s subsequent donation of $500,000 and Nike severed its commercial ties <\/a>with him.
Zippel said in a string of posts on X that Irving spotted the sign early in the first quarter and told him: “No need to bring that to a game.” Zippel said Irving then spoke to Mavericks security staff, before Jazz officials came to check the rabbis’ tickets and tell them to put the signs away.
The Jazz said in a statement<\/a> that the signs were in breach of its audience code of conduct that maintains games must be played “without distraction or disturbance.”
“During an out-of-bounds play in the first quarter of yesterday’s Jazz game against the Dallas Mavericks, there was a group sitting courtside whose signs sparked an interaction with a player that created a distraction and interfered with the play of game,” the statement said.
The statement said that a “part-time employee” who told the rabbis that the content of the signs was problematic was “incorrect.”
“The issue was the disruptive interaction caused by usage of the signs, not the content of the signs,” the statement said.
Zippel wrote on X on Tuesday night that the Jazz took the side of Irving and said the team had cited a spurious policy to get the signs taken down.
“Bottom line: there was one person, in a building of 18,000+, that was triggered by sign that says ‘I\u2019m a Jew and I\u2019m proud,’ Why that bothers him so, to the point that it sparks an interaction, should be the real question anyone is asking,” Zippel said.
“Sadly, instead of just quietly chalking this up to a misunderstanding and letting this remain a small blip, the Jazz took the side of said triggered player and doubled down. That\u2019s just disappointing to me.”
Zippel said in a separate statement on X Tuesday that he remains a lifelong Jazz fan and he will remain a supporter of the team.
He said in an interview with the Deseret News <\/a>that the Jazz had shown strong support for the local Jewish community over the years.
The Jazz beat the Mavericks 127-90 in Monday\u2019s game.
In 2022, Irving posted a link to the Amazon page of “Hebrews to Negroes,” a three-hour documentary based on a book of the same name which, according to the ADL, argues modern Jews are imposters who stole the religious heritage of Black people. Irving often posts political slogans and images as well as links to books to his 4.7 million followers on X.
He returned to the Nets after his suspension and \u00a0offered “deep regrets to anyone that felt threatened or felt hurt by what I posted,” saying “that wasn\u2019t my intent at all.”
In October 2022, eight Jewish fans wore shirts<\/a> with the slogan “FIGHT ANTISEMITISM” to a Brooklyn Nets game while Irving was playing.
There have been reports of increased incidents of antisemitism<\/a> across the U.S. since Israel’s war with Hamas began on Oct. 7 last year, as well as a reported rise in anti-Muslim incidents.
Patrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.
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