It was evident that Leonard tried mightily to cover up his utterances. Shortly after the stream abruptly ended, Leonard deleted recent tweets with references to his streams and all of his archived Twitch videos.
“The Miami Heat vehemently condemns the use of any form of hate speech,” the team wrote in a statement the network obtained.
“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.”
On Tuesday, Leonard issued an apology for his anti-Semitic words.
“I am deeply sorry for using an anti-Semitic slur during a live stream yesterday. While I didn’t know what the word meant at the time, my ignorance about its history and how offensive it is to the Jewish community is absolutely not an excuse and I was just wrong. 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.”
