Miami Heat big man Meyers Leonard landed in hot water this week when he was caught uttering a slur during a Call of Duty livestream.
On Tuesday morning, video of Meyers inexplicably using the deeply offensive term went viral.
“F*****g cowards. Don’t f*****g snipe me! You f*****g k**e b***h,” Leonard can be heard saying on the livestream.
A few hours later an extended version of the clip emerged – taking the situation from bad to worse.
“Check it out, Lis, you can see the exact moment Meyers Leonard career is ripped in half” pic.twitter.com/lfaqttB7pt
— Plantain Supernova In The Sky (@showmeyrtwittie) March 9, 2021
Shortly after the videos really began to pick up steam on social media, the NBA came out with an official response.
“We just became aware of the video and are in the process of gathering more information,” league spokesperson Mike Bass said in a statement (via Glynn A. Hill of the Washington Post). “The NBA unequivocally condemns all forms of hate speech.”
The obvious question fans had in the immediate aftermath of the incident was: will there be any consequences?
An answer came just a few hours later.
According to Andy Slater of Fox Sports 640, Leonard has been fired by his gaming sponsor.
“Leonard’s gaming sponsorship has been cancelled,” Slater tweeted. “The computer company, ORIGIN PC, made the move after the Heat player used an anti-Semitic slur online.”
The real star of All-Star weekend. https://t.co/jAMuWDI2Vl
— Game 7 (@game7__) March 9, 2021
Although Leonard getting his fired from his gaming sponsorship was the first domino to drop, it almost certainly won’t be the last.
The Heat, who were already in the running for one of the league’s most well-known big men, will almost certainly make a move to wash their hands of Leonard once and for all.
Leonard is out for the rest of the season due to injury and Miami has a team option on his contract for next year.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
