An antisemitic film tweeted out by Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving in October will not be removed from Amazon, company CEO Andy Jassy said at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit on Wednesday.
“As a retailer of content to hundreds of millions of customers with a lot of different viewpoints, we have to allow access to those viewpoints, even if they are objectionable — objectionable and they differ from our particular viewpoints,” Jassy said.
The Anti-Defamation League, a civil rights group, sent two letters to Amazon, asking the company to remove or add a disclaimer label to the film Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America. The film is “designed to inflame hatred,” one of ADL’s letters stated. “Make no mistake, this could lead directly to the harm of Jews.”
The retail giant earlier said it would consider the ADL’s request, according to a Nov. 6 report from The New York Times. However, Jassy’s latest comments show that Amazon has decided otherwise.
“If @amazon insists on selling a film that, among other things, denies the FACT that millions of Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, it’s unconscionable not to do the bare minimum & provide a disclaimer explaining why the film is problematic & antisemitic,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted Wednesday.
If @amazon insists on selling a film that, among other things, denies the FACT that millions of Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, it’s unconscionable not to do the bare minimum & provide a disclaimer explaining why the film is problematic & antisemitic. https://t.co/vIB6lnPu26
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) November 30, 2022
Irving tweeted a link to the film on Oct. 27, which led the NBA team to suspend him. Irving apologized for his tweet on Instagram on Nov. 3 after days of refusing to apologize. As part of the fallout, Nike will no longer work with Irving. He played his first game back from his suspension on Nov. 20 against the Memphis Grizzlies.
