Kyrie Irving doesn’t like to answer questions about his infamous Flat Earth Theory opinions anymore, but they’re going to keep coming if he keeps saying ridiculous things about science and human logic.
Irving joined J.J. Redick on his Ringer podcast in a late-night recording session after the two played in the NBA’s London showcase on Thursday.
In the recording, Redick presses Kyrie about his Flat Earth claims and Irving tries to explain himself, but accidentally reveals the deeper lengths of absurdity that are reached when we discover just where all this Flat Earth “research” came from: Instagram.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO_zejwc054
The Flat Earth talk starts right away, and Irving immediately says what he’s said a lot recently: he just wanted people to consider other sources and challenge conventional thought about things. It’s something he said in an interview with The Starters earlier this week as well.
If you don’t feel like listening to the entire podcast, Yahoo’s Ben Rohrbach has some selected quotes from it he threw on Twitter that are certainly worth your time, starting with the fact that he was “watching a whole bunch of Instagram videos.”
BREAKING: Kyrie Irving, on JJ Redick’s podcast, reveals that his flat-Earth theory came from his dutiful research on … Instagram.https://t.co/YeeSygcGFr pic.twitter.com/4r9qK8lmnD
— Ben Rohrbach (@brohrbach) January 12, 2018
There are, of course, some thoughts on chemtrails as well.
https://twitter.com/brohrbach/status/951836661423407104
He also may have had a few questions about September 11, though he never really got to that whole other realm of weird on Thursday.
Good God, JJ just cut Kyrie off while he was getting going on a 9/11 conspiracy rant, and I’m not sure I should keep listening. pic.twitter.com/qPaKLZli7F
— Ben Rohrbach (@brohrbach) January 12, 2018
Redick did his best to keep him comfortable, agreeing sometimes that humans should think beyond what they’re told and admitting that he’s not sure dinosaurs existed, which, OK man.
So why is all this important? Well, if Irving wants people to open their third eyes and really wonder where their logic comes from, he should also understand the flimsy sources he’s working with and how that juxtaposes with his own stature in the world. Irving led a comeback at O2 Arena in London on Thursday, helping the Celtics overcome a 22-point deficit to beat the Sixers in the international showcase. It was a game where Irving was presented as the figurehead of the Celtics, the proverbial face of the franchise.
Before the game, both he and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid addressed the crowd, thanking them for his support. This is the public face of a team hiding behind the friendly veil of skepticism but actually influencing other people to be downright anti-science. And when it comes up over and over again, and you realize the source of all this talk is some weird Instagram videos, it becomes all that more irresponsible.
