Kyrie Irving-Boosted ‘Hebrews To Negroes’ Film & Book Will Stay On Amazon; CEO Andy Jassy Calls Banning Or Labeling Works “Whose Primary Purpose Is Not To Espouse Hate” A “Very Slippery Slope”
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The Kyrie Irving-boosted book and film Hebrews to Negroes: Wake up Black America will remain for sale on Amazon, CEO Andy Jassy confirmed, despite a celebrity-backed petition calling for their removal.
In an appearance at the New York Times DealBook conference, Andy Jassy described the task of labeling or removing any works “whose primary purpose is not to espouse hate” a “very slippery slope.”
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Moderating content for sale on Amazon “is one of the trickiest issues we deal with,” Jassy said. “Some cases are more straightforward — if you have works that actively promote or incite violence, or teaches people how to do things like pedophilia, those are easy. We don’t allow those. … When you have content whose primary purpose is not to espouse hate or ascribe negative characteristics to people, that is much trickier and a very slippery slope if we take a lot of those out of the store.”
Amazon has “hundreds of millions of customers with lots of different viewpoints,” Jassy continued. As a retailer, “we have to be able to allow access to those viewpoints even if they are objectionable and even if they differ from our own personal viewpoints.” When moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin told Jassy he is troubled by the availability of the book and film because he is Jewish, the Amazon CEO said he is Jewish as well. “I am worried about anti-Semitism and I find several parts of that work objectionable, but I think you have to have principles if you’re going to manage something as large as we are.”
Irving was suspended by his NBA team, the Brooklyn Nets, earlier this fall after he tweeted a link to the documentary, which contains a range of anti-Semitic charges. The backlash against Irving came on the heels of Kanye West losing lucrative sponsorships and business relationships after he tweeted and defended a range of unfavorable comments about Jews. The Anti-Defamation League and other groups have sounded the alarm of late, citing a rise in anti-Semitism across the U.S. in recent years.
Jassy said Amazon execs have been “looking at” the scenario of adding a disclaimer to Hebrews to Negroes and other titles but said customer reviews have proven the most effective tool for surfacing “objectionable” content on Amazon.
The half-hour conversation covered a range of other topics, including streaming video. Jassy said Amazon plans to continue investing in sports rights, though he didn’t offer any specifics. He said the overall video business, which historically has been obscured by the larger success of the broader Prime Video customer subscription program, is heading toward the point when it could become “a stand-alone business with attractive economics.”
There are “a number of things we’re trying to do with streaming media,” the exec said.
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