SALT LAKE CITY — Rabbi Avremi Zippel is a prominent figure in Utah’s Jewish community. He’s also a lifelong, diehard Utah Jazz fan.
Though he doesn’t attend every game, he made it a point to be at Monday’s game between the Jazz and the visiting Dallas Mavericks. He wanted to send a message to guard Kyrie Irving, who was suspended by the Brooklyn Nets (his team at the time) in November of 2022 for posting a link to an antisemitic film on his Twitter feed.
“Some of the things that Kyrie said about the Jewish community and about Holocaust denial were vile and disgusting,” Zippel said to The Salt Lake Tribune.
But after Zippel and three other rabbis displayed signs from their front-row seats that read “I’m a Jew and I’m proud” — drawing a reaction from Irving in the process — arena security told the group they had to get rid of their signs.
The Utah Jazz said in a statement Tuesday that Zippel’s signs violated arena rules created “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.”
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