Kyrie Irving has received a sweeping public apology from Stephen A. Smith, who admits he treated the NBA star unfairly.
Smith interrupted his vacation Thursday after Anthony Fauci’s Senate testimony forced him to reconsider athletes who opposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Aaron Rodgers, Novak Djokovic, Cole Beasley and Kirk Cousins made his list, but Smith reserved his strongest words for Irving.
“There’s several people that we all owe apologies to. And I’ll put myself at the front of the list. But none more so than the apology that I owe to Kyrie Irving,” Smith said.
Smith acknowledged that his earlier attacks helped fuel the hostility Irving encountered while refusing vaccination during his turbulent Brooklyn Nets tenure.
“The reality is is that 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,” Smith continued. “And ladies and gentlemen it starts with me.”
His reversal followed Fauci’s appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where the former federal health official repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment.
ABC News reported that Fauci followed his attorneys’ advice, despite receiving a broad pardon covering his federal pandemic work.
Smith said Fauci’s refusal to answer questions gave him reason to reconsider people whose pandemic skepticism drew harsh condemnation.
“In my opinion, particularly hindsight-wise, it didn’t make him stubborn or selfish. It made him brave,” Smith said. “His willingness to stand up and say, ‘Nah, I’m not doing that.’”
New York City’s workplace mandate prevented Irving from playing home games until officials approved an exemption for athletes and performers in March 2022.
Smith also revisited his own dangerous bout with COVID-19, which included double pneumonia and more than three weeks of serious illness.
“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,” Smith declared.
AllHipHop previously covered another major controversy involving Irving after Brooklyn suspended him for promoting a film widely condemned as antisemitic.
Irving is preparing to return to Dallas after missing the 2025-26 season while recovering from a torn left ACL.
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