Meyers Leonard, a reserve center for the Miami Heat, will be “indefinitely off the team,” the team said Tuesday night after using an anti-Semitic abuse while playing a video game in a public live stream.
“The Miami HEAT strongly condemns the use of any form of hate speech,” the team said in a statement. ‘The words used by Meyers Leonard were incorrect and we will not tolerate any hateful language from anyone associated with our concession. Hearing this from a Miami Heat player is especially disappointing and hurtful to everyone who works here, as well as the larger communities in South Florida, the Miami Heat and the NBA. ‘
Leonard (29) plays ‘Call Of Duty: Warzone’, a popular multiplayer video game, on Twitch, a live platform mostly populated by gamers.
Leonard said the slur, followed by a sexist vulgarity, after calling another player a ‘coward’ because of the way they tried to kill his character in the game. The video was recorded on Monday, but only received widespread attention on Tuesday after Leonard’s video was posted on social media. By noon, it was the most important topic on Twitter in the United States.
While Leonard’s video said the shrinkage was circulating, Leonard streamed another session of ‘Call of Duty: Warzone’ live, an event he promoted on his Twitter account on Tuesday, with more than 177,000 followers . The live chat on the stream filled with remarks about the obstruction, and Leonard hastily ended his participation after receiving a phone call.
“My wife needs me. She just called. I have to roll, brother, ‘ Leonard said when he signed off.
The Twitter message advertising his live stream was quickly removed, as well as dozens of videos from the past that he plays on Twitch. Leonard’s words were soon condemned by the Anti-Defamation League, which written in a statement that it was “shocked and disappointed to see @MeyersLeonard using this ugly, offensive #antisemitic slur. We reached out to @MiamiHEAT and @NBA about this and requested Mr. Leonard to immediately apologize for this harsh and hateful rhetoric. ”
Leonard apologized Tuesday night in a statement he posted on Instagram, writing that he “deeply regrets that he used an anti-Semitic failure during a live stream yesterday.” He claims he does not know what the word he used means, but said that his “ignorance of its history and how offensive it is to the Jewish community is absolutely no excuse and I was just wrong.”
Mike Bass, an NBA spokesman, said in an afternoon statement: “We have just become aware of the video and are gathering more information. The NBA unequivocally condemns all forms of hate speech. The Heat said they would cooperate with the NBA’s investigation.
Leonard is a big fan of video games. In 2019, he invested in FaZe Clan, a popular e-sports team, write that he was “excited to be part of the leading space organization and continue to build my brand in the world of gambling / sports.”
But that brand was undeniably affected on Tuesday. Leonard’s channel has been suspended by Twitch – ‘We do not allow the use of hate speech on Twitch’, the company said in a statement – and a number of gambling companies affiliated with Leonard have denounced it.
In a statement posted on Twitter, The FaZe Clan said it was “incredibly disappointed to hear Meyers’ stream today” and that “although Meyers is not a member of FaZe, we are severing ties with him.” A FaZe Clan spokesman did not respond to an e-mail asking what it meant to cut ties with Leonard and whether FaZe Clan had returned its investment.
Three gaming companies that Leonard sponsored, and their logos were visible on the stream where he used the abuse, severed ties with him.
Origin PC and Scuf Gaming, both owned by computer hardware firm Corsair, released identical statements on Tuesday saying they had “decided to end our working relationship with Meyers.” Astro Gaming, which donates Leonard headphones as a promotion on its Twitch channel, said it is ending its relationship with him ‘immediately in force’.
Leonard, a first-round pick for the Portland Trail Blazers in 2012, is in his ninth NBA season but has appeared in just three games in the campaign. He is expected to miss the rest of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery last month. Last season, Leonard started 49 games for the Heat, averaging 6.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game as the team advanced.
He also got attention last summer because he was one of the few NBA players who did not want to kneel while playing the national anthem, out of protest against racial injustice, when the league resumed the 2019-20 season at Walt Disney World . Leonard, who is white, said he supported the Black Lives Matter movement and that he did not kneel as contemptuous, but that he also wanted to honor his brother, who served in the military.
Leonard is being paid about $ 9.4 million this season. The Heat have the option to extend his contract for next season.
Online streaming of video games – and its rapidly growing audience – has turned gamers into celebrities, but has also become a site of controversy. The audio and text chat features in many video games are notorious for frequent utterances of insults and a culture in which players will say something to get a response. In 2017, Felix Kjellberg, a popular video gamer known as PewDiePie, who currently has more than 109 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, was dropped by many major sponsors, such as Disney, after it was reported that he used at least anti-Semitic insults. nine videos.
Later that year, after using another abuser while dreaming of a game live, the phrase ‘heated game moment’ entered the lexicon as an excuse for using derogatory language during live video games.
Celebrities, and especially athletes like Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker and San Diego Padres pitcher Blake Snell, are attracted to live video games. But some also got into trouble for what they said. Last spring, Kyle Larson, a popular NASCAR driver, was fired from his team and suspended by the organization after using a racial utterance during a live stream of a virtual race.
Marc Stein contribution made.