CJ McCollum weighs in on Kyrie Irving controversy, gives advice to NBA players

• Sports

NBA Players Association President CJ McCollum has advised NBA players to take note of the Kyrie Irving controversy and think well before posting something on their social media. 10 days ago, Irving promoted a movie full of antisemitic material on his Twitter.

The Brooklyn Nets waited a week on Irving to come out, apologize and admit he was wrong. After Irving initially rejected to do so, the Nets suspended him indefinitely. Then, Irving released a statement on his Instagram, where he directly apologized to the Jewish community.

"I think the important part was he did apologize. He's displayed empathy now. I think this is a learning experience in which I don't think he understood the magnitude of the movie because he didn't watch it. I don't think he understood the magnitude of the people that were affected, how they were impacted and how fast hate can spread and how this can snowball," McCollum said, per ESPN.

McCollum advises NBA players to learn from the Irving situation

The NBA is against any form of antisemitism as they released a statement shortly after Irving promoted a movie full of antisemitic material. McCollum, who is also a veteran in the league, has urged fellow NBA players to learn from this situation so they don't find themselves in this situation one day.

"The important thing to learn about this situation is you have a platform. You have to be careful with how you use it. You have to vet everything you post. I think this is a situation we can all use as a learning experience for all of us as players.

You have to be careful with what you're posting. You have to know exactly what it is, and you have to research and educate yourself on all religions and all backgrounds and all races so that you are comfortable speaking to that.

I think this is an unfortunate situation where a lot of people were affected and a lot of people were harmed by this. It was tough," McCollum said.