March 11 (Reuters) – Meyers Leonard by Miami Heat has been fined $ 50,000 and suspended for a week of facilities and team activities after he made an anti-Semitic comment while playing a video game on a live stream, the NBA said yesterday.
“Meyers Leonard’s comment was unforgiving and hurtful and such an offensive term has no place in the NBA or in our society,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.
“Yesterday, he spoke to representatives of the Anti-Defamation Alliance to better understand the impact of his words and we accept that he is truly repentant.
“We have further communicated to Meyers that such abusive comments will not be tolerated and will be expected to uphold the core values of our alliance – equality, tolerance, inclusion and respect – going forward at all times.”
Leonard apologized on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CMN-G35DdD9, saying he was “very sorry”. “My ignorance of its history and how offensive it is to the Jewish community is no excuse and I was simply wrong,” he wrote.