Stephen A. Smith Apologizes to Kyrie Irving Over Vaccine Stance That Cost Him Millions
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 7
Stephen A. Smith Apologizes to Kyrie Irving Over Vaccine Stance That Cost Him Millions
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 7
Summary
Stephen A. Smith apologized to Kyrie Irving over Irving’s decision to remain unvaccinated during the pandemic, a stance the report says cost the NBA star millions of dollars.
Irving became a central figure in the sports vaccine debate because New York City rules barred unvaccinated home players, preventing him from playing Nets home games even though the NBA had no league-wide mandate.
The report casts Smith’s apology as rare media accountability and argues other athletes who resisted vaccine pressure — including Novak Djokovic, Tyler Bertuzzi, Cole Beasley and Jonathan Isaac — received criticism without similar apologies.
Those cases are presented as part of a broader COVID-era clash in sports over personal choice, public-health rules and media treatment of unvaccinated athletes.