(Reuters) – Miami Heat’s Meyers Leonard has been fined $50,000 and suspended for a week from team facilities and activities after he made an anti-Semitic comment while playing a video game on a live stream, the NBA said on Thursday.
“Meyers Leonard’s comment was inexcusable 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 League to better understand the impact of his words and we accept that he is genuinely remorseful.
“We have further communicated to Meyers that derogatory comments like this will not be tolerated and that he will be expected to uphold the core values of our league — equality, tolerance, inclusion and respect — at all times moving forward.”
Leonard apologised on Instagram, saying he was “deeply sorry”.
“My ignorance about its history and how offensive it is to the Jewish community is absolutely not an excuse and I was just wrong,” he wrote.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
