Twitch Streamer and Miami Heat player Meyers Leonard has been suspended from the Twitch and his basketball team because of using an anti-semitic slur word during his livestream this past Monday.
The NBA team Miami Heat posted a statement saying that the words used by Meyers Leonard were wrong and said that they will not tolerate hateful language from anyone. They also expressed their disappointment from their player and said that they will suspend him for indefinite time and he will be away from their team for now.
Meyers Leonard also released a statement on his Instagram account and says that he wasn’t aware of the meaning of the hateful/slur word. He apologized for his actions and explained that he didn’t know what it meant at the time and admitted that his ignorance about the words history and how offensive it is to the jewish community is not an excuse and it was just wrong. He also said that he is now aware of the word’s meaning and said that he is committed to properly seeking out help from people who can educate him about this type of hate.
Twitch also suspended Meyers and released a statement saying that they doesn’t allow any hateful slurs on their platform and says that the safety of their community is their top priority and according to their guidelines, they had the right to ban and suspend any twitch streamers account for conduct that they determine to be inappropriate, harmful or put any members of their community at risk.
Other organizations, gaming esports, and Meyers sponsors also distanced themselves and cut ties with him because all of them say that they don’t tolerate hate speech and discriminatory language of any kind.
Meyer Leonard isn’t the first streamer and person who was suspended using a slur word. Twitch Streamer Turner Tenney AKA Tfue was also banned for using racial slur during his stream and also Fortnite pro player Daniel Walsh also known as Dubs was banned and suspended both from Twitch and FaZe Clan after he said a racial word last Februay 2020. (He is now reinstated).
A lot has happened since his use of the slur word. He apologized and hoped that he would be forgiven. He said that he will now be careful with his choice of words but as of now, he must face all the consequences just like other streamers who did the same thing before.
It’s a lesson to all streamers out there because not only it’s hurtful and offensive word, there are also underage viewers who’s watching and might adapt that kind of word and thinks it is normal that’s why as a public figure and streamer, any streamer must be careful with what they are about to say and what words they are going to use to prevent hurting specific people and people in the community.
