It appears that Kyrie Irving is still all about flat earth references, and that Nike is helping him. Boston Celtics’ point guard Irving created a massive buzz with flat earth comments last February, and although he said he was just trolling in September, he didn’t really back off and said “there is no real picture of Earth” and everyone should “wake up and do your own research” on Geno Auriemma’s podcast last month. Now, Irving appears to be promoting the flat earth theory with his shoes. His new Nike Irving 4 shoes feature an all-seeing eye behind the tongue, meant to “challenge everyone to seek their own answers beyond the ones that are given to us by books, media, internet, etc,” and the new commercial he did promoting them includes Irving saying “This is my world” (0:18) as he spins a flat earth model:
Of course, there’s a whole lot else going on in that commercial, from appearances by Celtics’ teammate Jayson Tatum and New England Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski to a skateboarding dinosaur, a tiny child serving as Irving’s body double, and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra providing the soundtrack for him to dribble, drive and hit a layup. But it’s the flat earth stuff that’s perhaps the weirdest, and it’s clear that Irving isn’t backing away from referencing that idea, and that Nike doesn’t have any issues with him doing so. Middle school teachers everywhere may despair about that. But this is perhaps what we should expect from the “very much woke” Irving.
