A long-time, mega-money deal has just gone up in smoke – and the pain isn’t going to end there for NBA rogue Kyrie Irving.
Sportswear giant Nike has announced it has suspended its relationship with Brooklyn Nets superstar Kyrie Irving effective immediately after he posted a link to anti-Semitic material on social media.
Irving, who was also suspended by the Nets without pay for a minimum of five games, refused to initially apologise for the post but eventually did so.
The immediate backlash from his initial actions garnered widespread condemnation from the NBA community and now Nike are the latest to take swift action against the Nets star.
Irving has had a shoe deal worth approximately $AUD17 million-a-year since 2014 with Nike, but that is set to go up in smoke.
In a statement, Nike said it was “deeply saddened and disappointed” with the situation and confirmed it would halt the launch of Irving’s latest shoe which was due to be released on November 11.
“At Nike, we believe there is no place for hate speech and we condemn any form of antisemitism,” the statement read.
“To that end, we’ve made the decision to suspend our relationship with Kyrie Irving effective immediately and will no longer launch the Kyrie 8.
“We are deeply saddened and disappointed by the situation and its impact on everyone.”
Read the article by Alex Conrad (with AFP) in the Herald Sun.