Meyers Leonard, NBA player for the Miami Heat, is mired in the fallout brought on after he dropped an anti-Semitic slur on a stream of Call of Duty: Warzone. The center, who has been out of the active lineup since January with injury, has been suspended indefinitely by the Heat, and sponsors are looking to end their association with him as well.
While recovering from shoulder surgery, Leonard has taken to streaming in the past few months, picking up Call of Duty: Warzone and joining some big-name streamers for games in Verdansk. The world of streaming, and gamer culture more generally, does have a problem it needs to address with racist epithets thrown out as “mere trash talk.” The way that offensive outbursts percolate to the surface through trash talk can be very revealing. It sadly happens so often that the concept has been memeified as a “Heated Gaming Moment” based on a response to PewDiePie’s use of the n-word on stream years ago.
Leonard’s use of a racist slur has resulted in swift disciplinary action from his team, with the Heat issuing a statement in which the team says “we will not tolerate hateful language from anyone associated with our franchise” with the team working with the NBA as an internal investigation is conducted. Unsurprisingly, sponsors are stepping away from Leonard as well, with Origin PC and SCUF controllers ending their relationships with the player. Esports organization FaZe, which should be celebrating Atlanta FaZe’s victory in the Call of Duty League, is also ending its association with Leonard, though he was never officially a member of the organization.
The NBA has a zero-tolerance policy for racist conduct, and, of the major sports leagues, has spent significant time and money on campaigns to address systemic racism. The Black Lives Matter movement even featured in NBA 2K20 with free clothing added into the game for players to show their support. That Leonard is facing serious disciplinary action is not a surprise.
What is revealing though, besides how deep-seated racist slurs are in the vocabulary of some people, is how this incident serves as an indictment of the hateful nature of video game trash talk. Gordon Hayward, small forward for the Charlotte Hornets who streams during the NBA offseason, has said that gamer communities are more toxic than NBA locker rooms by a long shot, pointing to League of Legends players as an example.
While Leonard is rightfully being raked over the coals for this, the gaming world should be looking at this event reflexively. That gamer culture has reached a point where if this incident occurred offline, it would be brushed off as nothing more than a “heated gaming moment” is a problem that needs to be addressed.
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