Basketball bridges cultural barriers. Kyrie Irving understands that very well. Although he grew up in New Jersey, he was born in Australia, and he maintained healthy ties to his Australian heritage. In 2011, a young, naive Irving took part in an interview with an Australian reporter and encountered some cultural differences that, looking back, now make him cringe.
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As Irving continues to rehab from his torn ACL injury, the nine-time All-Star has taken up streaming as a way to pass the time. In his most recent Twitch stream, the Dallas Mavericks guard reacted to old clips of himself.
Fans brought to attention an interview Kyrie Irving did ahead of the 2011-12 season, when he visited Australia for the first time since he moving to America as a two-year-old child. At just 19, he didn’t realize there would be such a discrepancy in the use of a certain term between its America and Australia usage.
“I know, being an NBA player, maybe you get asked this question a fair bit, but I’m hoping you might have time for a bit of a quickie with me?” reporter Beth Davis asked.
Davis meant she wanted to ask him a series of rapid-fire questions, but to an American ear, it implies s**ual innuendo. Fortunately, as the mature Irving mentioned, the statement “went over [the younger Irving’s] head.”
When he was reacting to the clip, Kyrie couldn’t believe what he heard. He said if he’d had the understanding back then that he has today, his real-time response would’ve been completely different.
“Oh, wait, what?!” Irving said. “Oh my God. Did this chick ask me for a f****** quickie? Oh, nah! Look at our faces right here. That’s foul, bro. I should have stopped it right here. My PR team is gonna be like, ‘What?'”
In the video, Kyrie’s father, Drederick Irving, caught on to Davis’ interesting choice of words. Both Irvings may have been smiling at that moment, but Kyrie’s dad looked in a complete disarray following Davis’ misleading question.
“Look at the way my dad is looking at her, bro. He’s uncomfortable,” Irving pointed out.
In hindsight, Irving can laugh about the situation, but he sure wouldn’t let something like that slide again. But for the time being, he can have fun by making fun of himself for his past childish nature.
