The fallout from Miami Heat center Meyers Leonard using an anti-Semitic slur on a gaming stream has continued, with one of his teammates commenting on the issue.
Udonis Haslem said on Wednesday that “we can't tolerate that here”, adding that “right is right and wrong is wrong.”
Udonis Haslem, on Meyers Leonard's comment, "We can't tolerate that here and right is right and wrong is wrong."
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) March 11, 2021
According to South Florida Sun Sentinel reporter Ira Winderman, the power forward added that he had never heard Leonard use any such language around the team or elsewhere in the past.
Haslem says he has never heard Leonard utter such a comment around the team or otherwise. "He's never said anything of any nature like that around me." https://t.co/qBtbI3ZX7k
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) March 11, 2021
Haslem also apologized on behalf of the team, adding that he has a lot of Jewish friends who even gave him his own nickname of “Udonis Haslem-berg”.
Udonis Haslem on the impact of Meyers Leonard's words on the Jewish community, "We apologize. That won't tolerated here. I felt that. I have a lot of Jewish friends. They call me Udonis Haslem-berg at times."
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) March 11, 2021
The Heat announced on Tuesday that Leonard would be “away from the team indefinitely” in a scathing statement that also condemned his language and “any form of hate speech”.
The NBA is also investigating the incident, with Leonard also losing sponsorship from his gaming channel after the video of him using the slur went viral.
In the video, Leonard can be heard saying “F—— cowards, don’t f—— snipe at me you f—— k— b—-” while playing Call of Duty on his Twitch channel.
The 29-year-old apologized for the incident in a statement on his Instagram, saying he was sorry for using the word and was “committed to properly seeking out people who can help educate me about this type of hate and how we can fight it.”
“I am now more aware of its meaning and I am committed to properly seeking out people who can help educate me about this type of hate and how we can fight it. I acknowledge and own my mistake and there’s no running from something like this that is so hurtful to someone else,” the Heat vet added.
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