Kyrie Irving (Photo credit: Jackie Brown / SplashNews.com)
New York City mayor Eric Adams announced on Sept. 20 that starting in November, private businesses will no longer require employees as well as student-athletes to have COVID-19 vaccines. On the other hand, city workers are still required to be vaccinated.
Kyrie Irving, who is unvaccinated, missed most of the 2021-22 NBA season because of New York’s private sector mandate that precluded him from playing in home games. Meanwhile, a player from a different team who was unvaccinated could play in New York City.
Irving doesn’t mind sharing his thoughts with the world, and that’s what he did when he heard about the latest mandate change.
“If I can work and be unvaccinated, then all of my brothers and sisters who are also unvaccinated should be able to do the same, without being discriminated against, vilified, or fired,” Irving tweeted. This enforced vaccine pandemic is one of the biggest violations of human rights in history.”
If I can work and be unvaccinated, then all of my brothers and sisters who are also unvaccinated should be able to do the same, without being discriminated against, vilified, or fired. ♾🤞🏾
This enforced Vaccine/Pandemic is one the biggest violations of HUMAN RIGHTS in history.
— Chief Hélà 🤞🏾 (@KyrieIrving) September 20, 2022
On Sept. 18, Irving appeared on “The Boyz Night Podcast” where he talked about how the vaccine mandate affected his season.
“I played 29 games, I barely played home games,” Irving said. “It wasn’t a typical season I would have wanted, but things happen. I had to stand on a whole bunch of bigger stuff that just that.”
Even though Irving is free to play without being vaccinated, it looks as though he’ll continue to stand up for people who don’t have the same choice he does.
