With forward Meyers Leonard, He is dealing with the consequences from footage that surfaced yesterday where he was heard using an anti Semitic slur during a video game.

Livestream Leonard will be away from the heat indefinitely.

As a result, the NBA said it was quote gathering more information about the incident.

Here's part of the apology that Leonard posted on social media on Tuesday.

Quote.

I am deeply sorry for using an anti Semitic slur during a live stream yesterday.

Well, I didn't know what the word meant at the time.

My ignorance about its history and how it is offensive to the Jewish community is absolutely not an excuse, and I was just wrong.

I am now more aware of its meeting.

I'm committed to properly seeking out people who can help educate me about how this type of hate works and how we can fight it.

The heat statement on Leonard read in part quote.

The Miami Heat vehemently condemns the use of any form of hate speech.

The words used by Meyers Leonard were wrong will not be tolerated.

Hateful language from anyone associated with our franchise.

To hear it from the Miami Heat player is especially disappointing, hurtful to all those who work here, as well as the larger South Florida, Miami Heat and NBA communities.

And you also got away in from prominent Jewish athlete and three time Super Bowl champ Julian Edelman.

He wrote an open letter to Leonard, which included this quote.

I get the sense that you didn't use the word out of hate more out of ignorance.

Casual ignorance is harder to combat, has greater reach, especially when you command great influence.

Hate is like a virus, Julian wrote.

Even accidentally, it can rapidly spread today.

What's your reaction to the situation?

I think Julian was so on par.

But, you know, first and foremost, I think that the Miami Heat and the NBA are already going down the right path, starting with an investigation for ultimately probably punishment may be a fine right for Meyers Leonard, and rightfully so, because the energy that I'm on and I think that most people are on these days, whether it's public or private, there's zero tolerance for hate speech.

I mean period, as a society, we've been having these conversations, especially after the summer of 2020 where it's like now being heightened those emotions and feelings where we've been actively educating ourselves on where we stand.

And this was another incidence of whether, you know Julian Edelman brings up a great point about, you know, being, you know, hate or ignorance or even casual ignorance, which he's sort of identified as the hardest one, the one that's more pervasive, the one that's harder to address.

And so using that opportunity to mend that fence was very commendable, you know, by by Julian.

But overall, you know these are necessary conversations that need to be had.

I'm glad that the Miami Heat are already, you know, having this indefinite leave so that he can go through acts of contrition to all the parties that have felt, you know, offended, whether it is public and the apology or private, because we know his ownership group is Jewish.

You know, the owner of the team also CEO And so this is not something that oh, I didn't know I said it.

It's like we have to be accountable for our words.

And the craziest thing is this was on his own platform that he gets paid on, you know, through his partnerships.

And just to be comfortably saying something that you may not be consciously of, even though your you know, your live, it just sort of shocked me.

I think it just as a greater opportunity for all of us to educate ourselves to make sure that we stay on point because this was not it.

This is totally not.

And for me, I'm looking at this guy who's a pretty popular streamer.

So that means he has a lot of young kids looking at him.

Now.

These kids have heard that they don't know what this word means, but they heard miles music.

And so now they're gonna go out and use the same word in the same way, thinking it's cool, because this guy is that so That's my biggest problem.

Don't don't.

And then don't give me a half apology.

I'm not really satisfied apart.

I hate when guys come out and say, Oh, I'm gonna put this on my instagram or my Twitter.

What?

Not No, you gotta You gotta instagram Get on there.

Let me see your face.

Let me see the words come out of your mouth.

Let me feel that heartfelt, uh, sorrowful this of you saying this statement and for me, I just can't let him slide with this statement.

I hope the organization's does something because if we look across the way, you know, we had an owner who said something, and he was had his team taken from it.

I don't want this guy's career to be taken from forwards, but I do want some punished to be held out remaining for the rest of the season and be banished from the team.

No pay to make him really feel this and make him research and understand what he said and how hurtful these words can be.

Now, of course, he's been away from the team because of an injury and even this being away from the team now, officially, it is still with pay.

This is part of the agreement that the players union has with the league.

The league is the one that meets out discipline.

There's an interesting piece this morning from Ira Winderman in the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Looking at different punishments in the past for using slurs.

He said that it was about $50,000 fine was the maximum the NBA can levy that they are typically also allowed to give a suspension.

So a one game suspension is what we've seen in the past.

And, according to the Sun Sentinel, one game suspension, that paycheck would be an additional $65,000 of Myers salary.

I do just want to read guys.

One thing in the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.

C.

There's a quote up on a wall, and it actually comes from someone who wasn't Jewish.

He was a Lutheran pastor who lived through the Nazis in World War Two, and he was actually put in a concentration camp because of his opposition to Adolf Hitler.

And this quote is first they came for the Socialists.

I did not speak out because I wasn't a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists.

I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews.

I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

We've had so many conversations this year about what we owe each other right.

We owe each other wearing a mask.

Do we owe each other being safe?

What we owe each other so often is to raise up the people around us when other people take shots at them, even if those shots aren't at us specifically.

We can do that in this league, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the league reacts to this.

I know that they will.