Meyers Leonard became a trending topic on Twitter just a couple of days ago as he was immediately flagged for shouting an anti-semitic slur while playing a video game on Twitch. While Leonard maintains he didn’t actually know what the word meant, it became quite clear that he had offended numerous people, including his own fans. It became obvious that he would be suspended for what he did, and that’s exactly what happened as the Heat announced he would be gone from the team indefinitely.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Leonard has received additional discipline for his actions. The player has been fined $50,000 and now, he won’t be able to enter the Heat’s facilities for at least a week. In addition, Leonard has been in contact with leaders from the Jewish community, where he will be learning from his mistake. Leonard will also need to enter the league’s diversity program.
The Heat issued a statement on the matter when the incident happened, and as you can see, they’re taking this situation very seriously.
“The Miami HEAT vehemently condemns the use of any form of hate speech,” said the team in a statement. “The words used by Meyers Leonard were wrong and we will not tolerate hateful language from anyone associated with our franchise. 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 be away from the team indefinitely. The Miami HEAT will cooperate with the NBA while it conducts its investigation.”
It remains to be seen what will happen with Leonard although we’re sure he is thinking long and hard about what happened.