ESPN’s highest-paid sports commentator in history has decided it’s finally time to own his mistakes and apologize to Kyrie Irving — who took a public flogging and an $11,400,000 pay cut during the 2021–22 NBA season for refusing to bend to New York’s COVID vaccine mandate.
At the time, Smith blasted Irving as “selfish” for a refusal that left him ineligible to play in any home game for the Brooklyn Nets.
However, last night, Smith put his vacation on hold to issue the apology after watching Anthony Fauci’s oversight testimony — where Fauci pleaded the Fifth 111 times in total, a performance that even made Smith’s friend Chris Cuomo admit it looks like Fauci is “hiding something.”
That’s when Smith realized it’s a “time for reflection” and to “look at things differently.”
“There’s several people that we all owe apologies to... but none more so than the apology that I owe to Kyrie Irving,” Smith opened up.
“This is not about him, the basketball player. This is about him, the man.”
“The reality is Kyrie Irving, no matter what we think, may have been MORE RIGHT than we have given him credit for and unquestionably was more vilified than he deserved.”
“I watched Dr. Fauci on Capitol Hill yesterday, and the person I thought about most was Kyrie Irving,” Smith continued.
“Kyrie Irving stood out in my mind because of the heat that he was taking... He refused the vaccine. New York City's mandate made him ineligible for home games, and he linked his stance to people losing jobs over vaccine mandates."
“In my opinion, particularly hindsight-wise, it didn't make him stubborn or selfish. It made him brave. His willingness to stand up and say, ‘Nah, I'm not doing that.’”
“It's just a time for reflection — to look at things differently.”
Smith concluded his apology with one final statement that summarizes the Kyrie Irving vaccine mandate saga perfectly:
“It turns out that, no matter what the truth is behind all of this, Kyrie Irving did nobody wrong. We did him wrong.”
“I did him wrong. And for that, I’m sincerely sorry.”
Kyrie gave up $11,400,000 in game checks during the 21-22 NBA season and a $100,000,000 extension with the Nets to be unvaccinated.
That cements his holdout as the largest financial sacrifice any athlete has ever made over an issue in history.