Kyrie Irving went in-depth with J.J. Redick on his thoughts on Flat Earth and other conspiracy theories, and gave us some amazing quotes in the process.
Kyrie Irving made headlines last year when he claimed that he believed the Earth was flat, leaving fans to wonder if he was serious in his beliefs, or simply joking around. In later statements, the distinction remained murky, but one thing remained clear — Irving at least enjoys the idea of conspiracy theories, and is not one to shy away from his thoughts.
Irving was a guest on "The J.J. Redick Podcast" and spoke more on his sometimes conspiratorial beliefs, as well as offering his thoughts on Instagram, the pursuit of knowledge, and that new Taco Bell commercial.
The podcast later evolves into a fantastic conversation on Kyrie's basketball life, his ridiculous handle, and memories of his brief tenure as a Duke Blue Devil. But for the first 10 minutes, Irving is an unstoppable force of immediately engaging quotes sure to have listeners thinking "What?" or "Huh?" or "I don't know about that Kyrie..."
You can check out the highlights of Irving and Redick's conversation below. You can hear the entire podcast at The Ringer.
On his initial Flat Earth comments:
"When I actually said it though, I had been watching a whole lot of Instagram videos."
On the Instagram pages he follows:
"I don’t even follow — I can’t even call them conspiracy theories. Some of the things of logic and common knowledge are just there. They’ll actually list some of the laws and some of the things that have transpired throughout history, and they’ll just give it to you. Almost like a History Channel… They’ll give you stuff on the government, geoengineering and chemtrails, and everything else and it just makes you think."
On the struggles that came with publicly acknowledging his Flat Earth theory:
"For me, it's a lonely road sometimes. But it's always given with support from the people that I actually try to get this knowledge from and converse with. So I don't just limit myself to being in the circle of like, 'This is what you believe in. Flat earth. This is what you believe in. Dinosaurs don't exist.' Like, I'll actually go and try to do the research on the scientific side and figure that out. Just do comparisons, that's it."
On what’s driving his pursuit of knowledge:
"I just want it to be done with. Like just give me the truth ... Humans can just move on and there wouldn't be a conspiracy behind it. ... Like some of the things that happened before [9/11], it just was, you think back on history and I'm just like, maaan. They've gotten it to the point, and of course people will be like 'who's "they"' but, like, everyone that controls us."
On the new Taco Bell ad:
"People are taught and controlled to be afraid of that. Like not knowing what the all-seeing eye actually means and where it comes from historically. But yet, it’s given from people to be scared of. I don’t want to dive deep into it. But it’s part of my life. I’ve been seeing the all-seeing eye for about six months now. Like all the time."
On his relationship with the all-seeing eye:
"Spiritual alchemy is something that I’m huge in."
But Irving wasn't alone, as J.J. Redick also shared some of his less-than-mainstream ideas. On his own conspiratorial leanings:
"I know I’m wrong on this, but I’m not entirely convinced that dinosaurs existed."
You can listen to the whole conversation below.