Nike cuts ties with Kyrie Irving over antisemitism, cancels shoe line launch

Nike has severed its ties with NBA star Kyrie Irving following his repeated antisemitic comments and has canceled the launch of his signature shoe, the Kyrie 8.

Video transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

JOSH SCHAFER: Now my play today, guys, is Nike. Shares off slightly today, but really not on this news. The bigger story coming out of the partnership side of its shoe business. Nike announcing today that it has mutually ended its relationship with Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving.

This move comes about a month after Irving promoted an anti-Semitic film on Twitter. That resulted in an eight-game suspension from play on the court, but also resulted in a suspension from Nike. Nike suspended him back on November 4 and noted it wouldn't be releasing its latest shoe with the star, the Kyrie 8.

So perhaps, Dave, the end of this saga for now. But I also think it gets to a larger story here about what we saw with Kanye and Adidas and these shoe companies that now everyone wants a Jordan, right? Nike obviously has Jordan. Adidas wanted their Jordan, and it didn't really work out so well. And Nike has sort of built out this brand where every shoe is attached to a player.

DAVE BRIGGS: Right.

JOSH SCHAFER: I'm wondering if we see a shift in that ever. Are they ever going to move away from--

DAVE BRIGGS: Away from a player identification.

JOSH SCHAFER: So then you don't lose the shoe. I saw a lot of people online today, they like hooping in the Kyries. They're wondering where that design is going.

DAVE BRIGGS: How does he move the needle, though, has always been my question because when you listen to the initial words of Phil Knight, there was no question. He was gone. Phil Knight was ticked off, and he wasn't going to resolve that. But my impression is he doesn't move the needle the way Nike would prefer, and it's not worth the cash.

JOSH SCHAFER: Yeah, no, I think that's fair.

DAVE BRIGGS: 11 million a year.

JOSH SCHAFER: 11 million a year. But what player does? I just feel like they signed so many deals now with different players. Is it worth only having one player?

DAVE BRIGGS: True.

JOSH SCHAFER: There's one LeBron in the league right now, right? There's one LeBron.

DAVE BRIGGS: Yeah.

JOSH SCHAFER: So maybe you just have LeBron, and you wait for the next Jordan. You wait for the next LeBron. And you don't attach yourself to so many different players. So then you don't lose the shoe design.

DAVE BRIGGS: Interesting, interesting theory. We're going to have to discuss that further. I think they still love that model. By the way, the Amazon film that he tweeted out still there. Jassy says, not going away. He's going to keep that on the platform while Kyrie continues to take those blows. All right--