Did Kendrick Lamar take a shot at Kyrie Irving in the new album?

Rapper Kendrick Lamar included a verse about Kyrie Irving’s COVID-19 vaccine stance on the song “Saviour” off his latest album.

Friday May 13th was a big day in the music world as rapper Kendrick Lamar released his latest album titled Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers. Naturally, fans wondered what Lamar would be referring to in any of the album’s 18 songs.

Well, in the song “Saviour,” Lamar brought up Kyrie Irving and his stance on the COVID-19 vaccine. We have provided the following offering courtesy of complex music.

“I saw a Christian say the vaccination mark of the animal
Then he caught COVID and prayed to Pfizer for relief
Then I caught COVID and started questioning Kyrie.

You can listen to the full length of the song at this link.

Kendrick Lamar addresses Kyrie Irving’s COVID-19 vaccine stance in new album

As for whether Irving is aware of his inclusion in the song, the Guardian spoke briefly about it on a Twitch stream.

“I’m not crazy. I’m not indifferent. I’m just grateful. How about this,” Irving said via TMZ.

Irving has been an outspoken critic of the COVID-19 vaccine, where he has refused to get it. New York City had a mandate that required players on New York City sports teams to be vaccinated in order to play home games. As a result, Irving sat out games being played at Barclays Center with the mandate applying to him. Initially, Irving sat out all of Brooklyn’s games, but the team allowed him to attend street games.

Last March, an exception was made for athletes to attend home games regardless of their vaccination status. That paved the way for Irving to play home games towards the end of the 2021-22 season.

The Nets’ season ended prematurely as they were defeated by the Boston Celtics in the first round.

Irving has a player option for the 2022-23 season, where he will become an unrestricted free agent thereafter.