Cole Beasley, has made his opinion regarding the ongoing Kyrie Irving controversy, which led to a suspension, known. Beasley, who briefly played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2022 before suddenly retiring, does not support the decision made by the Brooklyn Nets.
Shortly after the Nets announced that Irving would be suspended for no less than five games, Beasley took to Twitter and said, “Won’t miss this part of professional sports. “Be you” they say. Yea alright…”
https://twitter.com/Bease11/status/1588322885755867136
If Beasley thought that his defense of Irving would get a lot of public support, he was wrong. Several people responded to Beasley, making their frustration with his feelings known.
Hate speech ≠ free speech https://t.co/dMzCkSsuXE
— Justin Fried (@JustinTFried) November 4, 2022
When people tell an athlete to "be you," they're saying sports are supposed to be fun so athletes should be themselves and have fun while playing the game.
They're not saying, "Go ahead and be an antisemite and you'll suffer no consequences." https://t.co/qQWM7Fruus— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) November 4, 2022
https://twitter.com/CodyRoarkNFL/status/1588347813703794688
Omg it’s like an endless parade of clowns that literally no one willingly bought a ticket for. https://t.co/AuPeXGKPmZ
— Kevin Fippin (@kfippin) November 4, 2022
Yeah, sucks to be held accountable for what you say and do. https://t.co/FmI5xYd409
— Brandon Kamerman (@B_Kamerman) November 4, 2022
This isn’t the first controversial issue where Irving and Beasley landed on the same side of the debate. Both players refused to get COVID-19 vaccinations. In Irving’s case, that meant that he could not play in any of his team’s home games for nearly the entire 2021-22 season until New York City’s mandates were lifted in March.
Irving’s suspension came a week after he shared a controversial film, that contained antisemitic messages on Twitter. The Nets revealed that they were frustrated with Irving repeatedly refusing to apologize for the video, including in a press conference earlier on Thursday.
[Cole Beasley on Twitter]
