Meyers Leonard is away from the Miami Heat indefinitely after shouting anti-Semitic slander during a video game broadcast, and that left his coach and teammates taking care of the matter on Wednesday.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and Heat veterans Udonis Haslem and Andre Iguodala denounced Leonard’s offense, saying that such language is not welcome in his organization. Leonard was already out for the season with a shoulder injury, and it is unclear when he will return to the locker room.
Leonard has released a statement apologizing for the slander while claiming not to have known its meaning at the time.
Spoelstra gave Leonard a character endorsement, but emphasized the pain created by the word:
Many emotions. Yes, very disappointed. These words are extremely painful. We do not tolerate this. There is much more to be done in terms of education and what is right versus what is wrong. We know Meyers, Meyers has been a very good teammate, he is a good human being. He said something that was extremely unpleasant and painful, and we are left with the consequences of that.
We do not tolerate this, obviously. It was a disappointing day. We had some conservations here as a team. I talked to Meyers, he feels really bad about it. No matter what the intention, it just isn’t right. “
According to the Associated Press, Spoelstra added that he told Leonard “there are consequences in the words”.
In addition to his suspension from the Heat, Leonard was banned from Twitch, the platform on which he pronounced the slander, and was fell for two of your game sponsors. The NBA also reviewed the incident.
Haslem, the oldest NBA player, quoted his Jewish friends in your apology, saying he spoke to them about the incident:
It is unfortunate, obviously, with social media today. Things spread like wildfire. It is unfortunate. We cannot tolerate this here. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Since I am here in this organization and until the day I leave this organization and beyond, we will try to be on the right side in everything, especially on issues like this. “
From the bottom of my heart and this organization, we apologize. This will not be tolerated here. We will be on the right side of these things going forward. I felt. I have many Jewish friends. They call me Udonis Haslem-berg sometimes, so I felt it. I spoke to some of them after it happened, just to see how they were feeling and to make sure they were okay and just let them know that we don’t tolerate it and that it won’t be tolerated here and they can continue to make sure that that kind of thing doesn’t happen around here in this locker room.
When asked if Leonard had ever used such language with him, Haslem said no.
Iguodala also called Leonard be accountable and learn from experience:
I think people should be held responsible for their actions. Same thing in this scenario. You have to be held responsible, you have to really understand your own actions. You just have to get up and realize that it is not right and it is up to him to fix that error and it is up to all of you, not even us to fix that error, but to hold him responsible.
I don’t think it’s up to us to find that out. It is up to him to try to fix this error and find out for himself. He worked hard to become a professional basketball player, so he has to work hard to educate himself.
It appears that no other NBA player has denounced Leonard’s slander yet, although Julian Edelman of the New England Patriots, who is Jewish, released an open letter on Wednesday morning calling it “destructive” and inviting Leonard to a Shabbat dinner.
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