NBA star Kyrie Irving has apologized for promoting the conspiracy theory that the Earth is flat. Just because the planet looks and feels flat while you’re walking on it doesn’t mean that it is.
Last year Irving claimed in a podcast that the Earth was flat, and over the summer admitted that he wasn’t really sure whether it was round or flat, telling the New York Times: “Can you openly admit that you know the Earth is constitutionally round? Like, you know that for sure? Like, I don’t know.”
During a recent Forbes’ Under 30 Summit in Boston, Irving, a point guard for the Celtics, made a mea culpa, telling the audience he had no idea that his statements would make such an impact on others.
During a conversation with Forbes senior editor Kurt Badenhausen, Irving admitted that he was wrong to spread the myth about a flat Earth. However, he did not say he changed his opinion about the shape of the planet. Rather, he warned, according to SBNation, “even if you believe in that [flat-earth theories], just don’t come out and say that stuff. That’s for intimate conversations.”
Irving also took a moment to apologize to science teachers: “I’m sorry about all that to all the science teachers coming up to me like, ‘You know I’ve got to re-teach my whole curriculum?!’ I’m sorry. I apologize. I apologize.”
The basketball star explained that he got sucked into the “rabbit hole” of online conspiracy videos that he watched on YouTube.
“At the time, I was huge into conspiracies. Everybody’s been there, like, ‘Yo, what’s going on with our world?” he joked. “You click a YouTube link and it’s like how deep does the rabbit hole go? You start telling all your friends, ‘Did you see that? Watch this video.”
Irving is not alone. A growing number of people think the Earth is flat. Last year, over 500 people went to the first-ever Flat Earth Conference near Raleigh, North Carolina. Some think conspiracy theories are flourishing these days in direct response to Donald Trump’s election to the presidency.
In February 2017, former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal also claimed the Earth seemed pretty flat after he drove from Florida to California. He later said he was just messing with people’s minds.
