“A Huge, Huge Mistake.” Meyers Leonard Opens Up on Ignorance, Regret, and Forgiveness

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2023

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It has been more than two years since Meyers Leonard last set foot on an NBA court. The former Miami Heat center had his most productive season ever in 2019-20, a season that ended with him playing for the NBA Championship in the bubble. But after a shoulder injury derailed his 2020-21 season, Leonard filled his time playing video games. And it was during one online game session in March of 2021 when Leonard would utter an antisemetic slur that would ignite a firestorm of controversy. Meyers was suspended by the Heat, before being traded to – and ultimately released by – the Oklahoma City Thunder. Jeremy Schaap sits down with Meyers Leonard, who finally opens up about his “huge, huge mistake” as well as the feelings of shame and regret he has felt since. It’s an interview that explores questions of ignorance and forgiveness…and possibly, a path back to the NBA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey guys, it's Pablo, just giving you a courtesy note before we start today's show.
0:11.0	Because it contains strong and profane language, including an anti-Semitic slur, that you're
0:15.9	going to hear a couple times.
0:19.6	Jeremy, if you recently sat down for an interview with somebody that we haven't really
0:29.8	seen or heard anything from in almost two years now, and I'm talking about NBA free agent,
0:36.2	Myers Leonard, what made you want to talk to him?
0:39.6	Well, it has been nearly two years, Pablo, since this incident on a live gaming session
0:47.8	while he was playing Call of Duty.
0:52.3	Myers Leonard shouted out an anti-Semitic slur.
0:57.6	The anti-Semitic slur, if you will, in that moment in Tungo viral, it would turn his
1:07.4	world upside down.
1:09.1	The Miami Heat said that Myers Leonard will be away from the team indefinitely.
1:13.0	After Leonard used an anti-Semitic slur while playing a video game that was streamed
1:17.0	on the internet.
1:18.0	It would make him a pariah.
1:19.5	This is not something that, oh, I didn't know, I said it.
1:21.8	It's like we have to be accountable for our words and just to be comfortably saying something
1:25.7	that you may not be consciously of, even though you're live, it just sort of shocked me.
1:32.6	Now as he is trying to return to the league, he hasn't played since before this incident
1:38.6	took place, it raises, I think, very interesting questions about language, about forgiveness,
1:48.7	about redemption, all these kinds of things.
1:52.1	That's why we wanted to talk to Myers Leonard.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from ESPN, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of ESPN and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.