{"id":5891,"date":"2026-08-01T14:38:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=5891"},"modified":"2026-08-01T14:38:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:38:37","slug":"stephen-a-smith-offers-surprising-apology-to-kyrie-irving-about-covid-vaccine-after-watching-fauci-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=5891","title":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith offers surprising apology to Kyrie Irving about COVID vaccine after watching Fauci hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The \u201cA\u201d stands for atonement.<\/p>\n

ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith issued a shocking on-air apology to Kyrie Irving for blasting the much-maligned NBA superstar\u2019s refusal to comply with mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, which derailed the Brooklyn Nets\u2019 season.<\/p>\n

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Smith interrupted his scheduled vacation Friday after watching Dr. Anthony Fauci plead the 5th Amendment in front of Congress \u2014 saying he \u201cfelt compelled\u201d to issue a mea culpa to Irving who was ruthlessly shamed for deciding against getting the COVID shot.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI watched Dr. Fauci on Capitol Hill yesterday and the person I thought about most was Kyrie Irving,\u201d said Smith admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s several people that we all owe apologies to, and I\u2019ll put myself at the front of the list, but none more so than the apology that I owe to Kyrie Irving,\u201d the 58-year-old said at the start of his near 20-minute monologue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is, is that Kyrie Irving, no matter what we think, may have been more right than we have given him credit for and unquestionably was more vilified than he deserved. And ladies and gentleman, it starts with me,\u201d Smith continued.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe saw vaccine mandates and booster mandates and you know distancing stipulations and mask mandates and all of this other stuff. And along the way, there were a select few individuals in the world of sports especially that stood up and said, \u2018Nah, I\u2019m not down for this,\u2019\u201d Smith recounted.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

During the 2022-22 NBA season, Irving sat out 35 games, including all games at Barclays Center, due to New York state\u2019s vaccine mandate.<\/p>\n

That rule was later lifted by then-Mayor Eric Adams who created an athlete\/performer exemption in March 2022.<\/p>\n

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ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith issued an on-air apology to Kyrie Irving for blasting the much-maligned NBA superstar\u2019s refusal to comply with mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nStephen A. 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