NBA Player Catches Heat For Using Antisemitic Slur On Warzone Twitch Stream

Content Warning: use of hate speech, antisemitism, explicit language.

Miami Heat center Meyers Leonard is under fire for using an antisemitic slur while streaming Call of Duty: Warzone on Twitch earlier this week, according to Defector. The incident has resulted in Leonard getting cut from esports organization FaZe Clan.

Leonard, who was streaming Warzone with at least one other person, was complaining about a player trying to snipe him. After a brief moment of accosting that player for trying to snipe him, Leonard called them a "k*** b****." The person that Leonard was playing with just laughed nervously afterwards. You can see the incident in the uncensored video clip below

Leonard said the slur on a Monday stream, but nothing materialized. During a subsequent Warzone stream, viewers in the chat questioned his use of the word before the chat devolved into an "emote-only mode." He then got a call from his wife and cut the stream short.

According to a statement provided to The Athletic reporter Shams Charania, the NBA "just became aware" of Leonard's language. A spokesperson said it condemns all hate speech.

"We just became aware of the video and are in the process of gathering more information," an NBA spokesperson said. "The NBA unequivocally condemns all forms of hate speech."

Leonard has also been dropped from FaZe Clan, the popular esports organization the NBA player joined in June 2019. According to a statement from FaZe, the company doesn't "tolerate hate speech or discriminatory language of any kind." The organization noted that while Leonard isn't a "member of FaZe," it is "cutting ties with him" effective immediately.

Following FaZe Clan's statement, Leonard released one of his own. Senior lead NBA insider Shams Charania posted the statement on Twitter.

Update: This story has been updated to reflect the information from both FaZe Clan's statement and Meyers Leonard's statement.