A number of gaming sponsors have dropped Meyers Leonard after he spewed hateful language during a “Call of Duty” livestream on Twitch earlier this week.
“F–ing coward. Don’t f–king snipe me, you f–king k–e b—h,” said the Heat center, who was suspended indefinitely by the team.
He has been getting blasted from every corner of social media for his words, but Julian Edelman decided to go another route.
The New England Patriots WR delivered “An open letter” to the Miami Heat player.
“I get the sense that you didn’t use that word out of hate, more out of ignorance,” Edelman wrote. “Most likely, you weren’t trying to hurt anyone or even profile Jews in your comment. That’s what makes it so destructive. When someone intends to be hateful, it’s usually met with great resistance. Casual ignorance is harder to combat and has greater reach, especially when you commend great influence. Hate is like a virus. Even accidentally, it can rapidly spread.”
Professional esports organization FaZe Clan cut ties with the 29-year-old as well as three other gaming companies — Origin PC, Scuf Gaming and Astro Gaming.
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“We were incredibly disappointed to hear Meyers’ stream [Tuesday],” FaZe Clan said in a statement. “FaZe does not tolerate hate speech or discriminatory language of any kind. While Meyers is not a member of FaZe, we are cutting ties with him. This community has so much growing to do. Let’s be better together.”
Leonard apologized for his rant and claimed he did not understand the true meaning of the word.
“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,” Leonard’s statement read in part.
