Kyrie Irving defends Karl-Anthony Towns and demands respect on social media. It’s no secret that social media can be a double-edged sword: it can lift you up and make you go viral in a positive way or it can drown you in a wave of hate, ridicule, and harassment. For public figures like athletes, this dynamic not only harms their image but also takes a toll on their mental health.
A recent example is Minnesota Timberwolves player Karl-Anthony Towns, who has been repeatedly mocked for his way of speaking, his accent, and even for switching tones in different interviews or streams. The ridicule has turned into viral memes on platforms like TikTok and X, where many accuse him of “changing his personality” depending on the context.
In response, his friend and fellow NBA player Kyrie Irving decided to speak up and defend him publicly during a live Twitch stream. His words didn’t go unnoticed:
“Leave KAT alone”: Kyrie Irving’s blunt message on Twitch
“I’m done with y’all. Stop making fun of my brother KAT. It’s over for that. It’s a fucking wrap. I’m letting y’all know: if you repost that shit again or you meme him up, I’m attacking you.
Not like that physically in GTA, but I’m attacking you. All right? I’m attacking you.
Y’all gotta leave KAT alone, okay? Because y’all don’t know what it’s like to grow up in Jersey and have all of these cultures that you’re a part of trust me on that.
Jersey is literally 130 miles long. It is a very, very small state. But when I get back to my point, I’m gonna explain this to you. But I’m just saying: leave him alone. All right?
Leave our Jersey like… because he’s Dominican, he’s Black, he grew up in, you know, a certain area in Jersey just like me, and you gotta survive out here.
You have many different demographics of people so you gotta survive out here, all right?
Sometimes I don’t agree all the time when he be, you know, changing up his tone-sometimes I don’t always agree and all that. You know what I mean? That shit be funny. But on a serious note: he is a man, he’s my brother, and I protect him all the time.”
With these remarks, Irving made it clear that this goes far beyond a simple joke. While he acknowledges that some things can be funny, he draws the line when it comes to the dignity and respect of someone he considers a brother.
Towns has mentioned in past interviews that he’s had to learn to endure criticism both on and off the court. In a sport as competitive as basketball, one bad game is enough to draw backlash, no matter how solid your record might be. And in the public eye, those mistakes are magnified especially on social media.
Irving also put their shared upbringing in New Jersey into perspective a small state with rich cultural diversity. In his view, that kind of environment requires adaptability, and it often reflects in the way someone speaks or expresses themselves. Criticism that ignores that context ends up being unfair and harmful.
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