One of basketball's biggest stars found himself at the center of a strange media firestorm over the last few days after he advocated for the infamous Flat Earth conspiracy theory.
Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers raised eyebrows during an interview on Thursday when he declared, "this is not even a conspiracy theory. The Earth is flat."
He went on to insist that "it's right in front of our faces. I'm telling you, it's right in front of our faces. They lie to us."
As one might expect, Irving's passionate take on the often-ridiculed Flat Earth theory got the attention of the vast sports media world.
Pressed to explain his Flat Earth fandom to ESPN on the following day, the 2017 All Star stood firm, advising people to "do their own research" and musing that "I don't mind going against the grain in terms of my thoughts."
This turned Irving's comments into a proverbial five-alarm Flat Earth fire as the assembled media in town for the NBA All Star game descended on him to expound further on the conspiracy theory.
It was at this point that Irving's take took a strange turn as he seemed to sidestep the question of whether the Earth is round or flat and pivoted into using the brouhaha as a commentary on the nature of the news media today.
Flat Earth conspiracy theorists will no doubt wonder if perhaps Irving was 'gotten to' by the 'powers that be' and dissuaded from espousing any additional thoughts on the subject.
Should that be the case, they need look no further than NBA commissioner Adam Stern who was, amazingly, also asked about the Flat Earth theory by the media.
Stern chalked Irving's comments up to simply being "provocative" and reiterated that the entire episode was about the ongoing national conversation surrounding 'fake news.'
And, in a declaration that he likely never thought he'd have to make, Stern also said, "personally I believe the earth is round."
Coast Insiders looking to learn more about the controversial Flat Earth theory which has become enormously popular in recent years can check out researcher Mark Sargent's appearance on the 5/21/15 edition of the program.
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Source: ESPN