The Miami Heat put Meyers Leonard on indefinite leave on Tuesday, hours after a video surfaced from the center of the reserve using anti-Jewish slander during a live video game broadcast.
Leonard called an opposing player “k—”, among other vulgarities, while playing “Call of Duty: Warzone” on Monday.
The NBA is investigating the 11-second clip recorded on Twitch, the popular live streaming platform for video game players.
“The Miami Heat strongly condemns the use of any form of hate speech … hearing it from a Miami Heat player is especially disappointing,” the team said in a statement on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old later said he did not know what the epithet meant.
“My ignorance about his story and how offensive it is to the Jewish community is not an excuse at all and I was just wrong,” wrote Leonard on Instagram.
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913 to combat anti-Semitism, said on Twitter that it was “shocked and disappointed” by Leonard’s use of the word.
A nine-year NBA veteran, Leonard averaged 3.3 points, 0.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds in 9.7 minutes this season, before undergoing surgery at the end of the season in January due to a shoulder strain. It is unclear whether Leonard, who has a $ 9.4 million contract for a year, will be paid while out of the team.
Leonard is an avid video game player and uses Twitch not only to record himself playing, but also to connect with fans.
Although Leonard’s situation with the Heat is uncertain, sports organization FaZe Clan said it was severing ties with the 2.10 meter investor.
Leonard also made headlines during the summer, when he was the only Heat player to stand during the national anthem, while his comrades, many of whom were black, knelt down to protest police brutality and social injustice.
Leonard, who was wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt, said he was out of respect for his brother, who served in Afghanistan twice with the Marine Corps.
“I am a compassionate human being and I really love everyone,” Leonard told the Associated Press at the time. “I cannot fully understand how our world, literally and figuratively, has become black and white. There is a line in the sand, so to speak: ‘If you are not kneeling, you are not with us.’ And that’s not true. “