Kyrie Irving regrets saying that the Earth is flat at All-Star Weekend in New Orleans in 2017. The distinction is different because it doesn’t appear that he regrets thinking it when he was “really into conspiracy theories” back then, but he does regret saying it out loud and the kerfuffle that followed.
Irving spoke at the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Boston on Monday and was asked about advocating for Flat Earth Theory more than a year ago back when he was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The quote became the talk of All-Star Weekend, which was equal parts hilarious and horrifying in a world where the truth was quickly being devalued and society seemed to be losing its grip on science and facts.
That grip, and the impending sense of doom for the oblate spheroid we call Earth, has only increased in the time since then. Irving was traded to the Celtics and has been asked about Flat Earth Theory many times since then. He’s tried to backtrack and Galaxy Brain his way out of the incident without acknowledging what he actually meant. But on Monday, finally, he issued an apology for throwing hundreds of years of science in the garbage a few blocks from Bourbon Street.
Kyrie apologizes for saying the world is flat. #Under30Summit pic.twitter.com/uJH3fNbPqS
— Nicole Yang (@nicolecyang) October 1, 2018
“Hopefully after this I’m done answering it,” Irving said before concluding that “people are going to ask me regardless.”
Irving wasn’t bothered by the question, though, and he does actually poke fun at himself a bit in explaining that he was “huge into conspiracies at the time.”
“Everybody’s been there, like ‘Yoooo, what’s going on in our world?’” he continued, making the crowd laugh even more. “You click a YouTube link and you see how deep the rabbit hole goes. You start telling all your friends ‘Yo, did you see that? Watch this video.’”
Irving explained that the comment was supposed to be “innocent” but that it quickly got out of hand as Flat Earth groups took him seriously and schoolchildren — and some other pro athletes — started actually thinking the Earth was flat.
“At the time you’re like innocent in it but you realize the effect and the power of voice. Even if you believe in that it’s like, but don’t come out and say that: save it for more intimate conversations,” Irving explained. “Because your perception and how you’re received changes.”
The biggest lesson in all of this, Irving said, is that his voice matters on things like this. And he has to be more careful. Because the scientific impact of Irving saying something as silly as this, even meant in jest, is real. Students really were challenging their teachers on Flat Earth Theory because of what Irving said as a joke.
Irving said he “didn’t realize the effect at that time” and then issued an official apology to teachers whose lives he made more difficult over the past few years.
“So I’m sorry about all that: all the science teachers coming up to me going ‘You know I have to reteach my whole curriculum.’ I’m sorry! I apologize,” Irving said. “I apologize.”
The whole thing comes off a bit more as an apology to people who had to deal with the fallout of him saying it than him apologizing for actually saying it, but the further explanation does show that he understands the impact his words have. Irving is a really smart, thoughtful guy who isn’t afraid to ask questions and speak about the things that interest him. But with that perception comes an expectation that he means what he’s saying. Irving may fall into YouTube rabbit holes like the rest of us, but when you bring what’s at the bottom of that hole to millions of basketball fans there’s a real consequence to what’s said.
Hopefully teachers accept Irving’s apology and we can get back to fixing the Mercator projection rather than proposing it’s all based on a massive lie in the first place.
