Utah Jazz issue statement on sign policy after rabbis raise concerns about treatment by arena staff
Rabbi Avremi Zippel is a big fan of the Utah Jazz, but that’s not why he and three other rabbis had courtside seats for the team’s Monday game against the Dallas Mavericks.
They were in the front row to ensure Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving would see them as they held up signs proclaiming their pride in being Jewish.
“I want to be very clear. At no point did we boo Kyrie. ... The message was a simple one: I’m a Jew, I’m a proud Jew and I’m here tonight because of what my people have endured,” Rabbi Zippel said in an interview with the Deseret News.
We may have brought four Rabbis to sit courtside tonight… pic.twitter.com/mRzPPUoOZf
— Avremi Zippel (@UtahRabbi) January 2, 2024
Still, the signs caused a disruption, according to a statement from the Utah Jazz.
The statement aimed to explain why Rabbi Zippel and the other rabbis were asked by arena staff during the game to put the signs away, a request that Rabbi Zippel described as confusing and upsetting.
“The question is whether there is a written policy that says in courtside seats there can be no signage. And if there is, does anyone know where that policy is listed?” he said.
In the statement released Tuesday afternoon, the Utah Jazz organization said that fans are asked to remove signs when the signs become a disruption.
“The Utah Jazz Code of Conduct is in place so that games can be played without distraction and disruption. No matter where someone is in the arena, if a sign becomes distracting or sparks an interaction with a player, we will ask them to remove it,” the statement said.
It continued, “During an out-of-bounds play in the first quarter of yesterday’s Jazz game against the Dallas Mavericks, there was a group sitting courtside whose signs sparked an interaction with a player that created a distraction and interfered with play of (the) game. As the next step in standard security protocol, the fans were asked to take down their signs.”
Kyrie Irving and antisemitism
Rabbi Zippel and the other rabbis — his father, brother and brother-in-law — wanted to hold the signs up in front of Irving due to his history of making controversial statements about Judaism and the Holocaust.
Fourteen months ago, when he was still on the Brooklyn Nets, Irving was suspended for sharing antisemitic material on Twitter and for initially refusing opportunities to apologize or clarify his beliefs.
In a Nov. 3, 2022, statement announcing Irving’s suspension, the Nets described Irving’s actions as “deeply disturbing.”
“Such failure to disavow antisemitism when given a clear opportunity to do so is deeply disturbing, is against the values of our organization and constitutes conduct detrimental to the team,” the statement said, as the Deseret News previously reported.
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A few hours after the Nets announced his suspension, Irving posted a lengthy apology for his actions on social media, explaining that he was “deeply sorry” to have caused the Jewish community pain.
But Irving later deleted the apology post from his Instagram account around the time he was traded to the Mavericks last February. When asked by reporters about why he took the post down, Irving said he deletes things all the time and criticized the media for calling him antisemitic, as the Deseret News reported.
Rabbi Zippel said he has a problem with Irving’s “entire body of work” related to the Jewish community and circled the Jazz-Mavericks game on his calendar about as soon as the 2023-24 schedule was released.
But he said the signs’ message — “I’m a Jew and I’m proud.” — was less about Irving’s actions than it was about his own love of his faith.
“I felt like that was the most appropriate way to go about it,” Rabbi Zippel said.
Utah Jazz relationship with Jewish community
Rabbi Zippel said the Utah Jazz organization has shown strong support for the Jewish community over the years — that’s one reason why he was caught off guard by what happened Monday.
“My experience with the Jazz over the years has been nothing short of overwhelmingly and incredibly positive and supportive. The team was one of the first NBA organizations to issue a statement in support of Israel as the war was just beginning,” Rabbi Zippel said, adding that, a few weeks ago, he had the opportunity to light a menorah and celebrate Jewish heritage at a game.
The statement from the Jazz said that the content of the signs was not the issue. Instead, the issue was the the “disruptive interaction” the signs sparked.
“The part-time employee who told the fans it was the content of the sign that was the problem was incorrect. The issue was the disruptive interaction caused by usage of the signs, not the content of the signs,” the statement said.
Rabbi Zippel, who described himself as a “lifelong Jazz fan” and season ticket holder, said that while he’s not calling for the team to be “canceled or anything of the sort,” he’s also not satisfied by the Jazz’s response.
“This has always been the team that I love and I hope to continue cheering for it, but, the way this all went down and is continuing to go down, has been somewhat disappointing,” he said.
