Kareem Abdul-Jabbar calls Kyrie Irving’s Alex Jones tweet ‘what happens when education system fails’

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — the leading scorer in NBA history — dunked on Kyrie Irving in an essay accusing the Nets guard of “gelatinous ignorance.”

He also called on consumers to give the 30-year-old ball handler the hook following Irving’s promotion of a clip showing “Infowars” host Alex Jones babbling a conspiracy theory.

“Kyrie Irving’s thought process is an example of what happens when the education system fails,” the 75-year-old NBA Hall of Famer wrote Sunday on the Substack online platform.

While Irving has a history of dabbling in disinformation, Abdul-Jabbar was referencing his Instagram post last month sharing a 2002 clip of Jones claiming a “New World Order” would release “diseases, and viruses, and plagues” upon the populace, seemingly referencing a baseless conspiracy theory about the spread of COVID-19.

“Alex Jones tried to warn us,” Irving’s post said.

Abdul-Jabbar, who has criticized Irving’s reasoning skills in the past, wrote that the ballplayer “is back and more destructive, insensitive, and just plain silly than before.”

Jones, as Abdul-Jabbar noted in his essay, is being sued for damages this week in a Connecticut court, where it’s already been determined he falsely reported the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was a hoax meant to drum up support for gun control.

“Kyrie Irving would be dismissed as a comical buffoon if it weren’t for his influence over young people who look up to athletes,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote.

The 7-foot-2 former Los Angeles Lakers superstar attended UCLA from 1966 to 1969 and has since been an education advocate. Irving spent a year at Duke University after attending high school in Montclaire, N.J. According to Abdul-Jabbar, the best way for society to play defense against Irving’s habit of pushing oddball ideology is to stop doing business with companies that do business with Irving.

“Irving does not seem to have the capacity to change, but we have the capacity to keep fighting against his brand of destructive behavior,” he said.

In a 2017 podcast, Irving ranted about how “they lie to us,” with regards to the shape of the Earth, which he believed to be flat.

“Do your own research,” he said during a radio interview where he doubled down on his drivel.

Irving apologized in 2018 for sharing that pseudo-science and acknowledged his bizarre conspiracy theories are better suited for “intimate conversations” than public statements. In 2021, Irving was unable to join the Nets for home games because he refused to get vaccinated at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He told the Daily News his decision was about “freedom” and that he didn’t want to adhere to “government controls.”

The Athletic reported that the Lakers expressed interest in acquiring Irving before the Nets star exercised a nearly $37 million option to stay in Brooklyn for another year. He occasionally shares his views on spirituality and current affairs on social media.

“HUMANITY is at war,” Irving tweeted at the end of August.

Abdul-Jabbar wrapped up his essay by blaming Irving for tarnishing “the reputations of all athletes who strive to be seen as more than dumb jocks.”

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from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/s9RruHt