Miami Heat center Meyers Leonard will stay away indefinitely after using an anti-Semitic slur while playing Duty during a Twitch stream video that surfaced on social media Tuesday afternoon.
The organization released a statement Tuesday evening saying it “condemns the use of any form of hate speech.”
“The words used by Meyers Leonard were wrong and we will not tolerate hate speech from anyone involved in our franchise,” the statement read. To hear it from a Miami Heat player is especially disappointing and hurtful to all those who work here, as well as the larger South Florida, Miami Heat and NBA communities.
“Meyers Leonard will stay away from the team indefinitely. The Miami Heat will work with the NBA during the investigation.”
In the video that appeared on social media, You can hear Leonard say, “F —— cowards, not f —— snipe at me, you f —— k — b —-.”
Leonard apologized on Tuesday night, saying he was very sorry he used the slur during the live stream and didn’t know what the word meant.
“My ignorance about history and how offensive it is to the Jewish community is absolutely no excuse and I was just wrong,” said Leonard. “I am now more aware of its meaning and I am determined to find people who can help me learn this kind of hatred and how we can combat it.
“This is not a true representation of who I am and I would like to apologize to the Arisons, my teammates, coaches, front office and everyone involved in the Miami Heat organization.”
Leonard, 29, has nearly 70,000 followers on Twitch. He was in the middle of streaming on Tuesday when the clip surfaced on Twitter and went viral.
Leonard is an avid streamer at the NBA. In April 2020, he streamed himself playing Duty 26 hours as part of a fundraising campaign raising more than $ 45,000 for Feeding America, an organization of more than 200 food banks.