Meyers Leonard of the Miami Heat is in hot water after referring to a fellow Call of Duty: Warzone player by an antisemitic slur. Players spouting racial slurs at one another has been an unfortunate side effect of virtually every Call of Duty title that features online multiplayer, and although Activision has been taking steps to combat this, many Warzone and Black Ops: Cold War players who still dare to have voice chat enabled will quickly point out that not much has changed. However, this apparent inevitability does not mean that players should allow themselves to become numb to it.
This does not apply solely to racial groups, either; there has always been a significant amount of harassment directed towards women and the transgender community in online games as well. This has become so prevalent that Riot Games recently announced their Valorant Champions Tour Game Changer program, which kicks off this month with a series of tournaments exclusive to women and marginalized genders. Twitch also recently attempted to promote the diversity of its streamers by making a different person the face of the PogChamp emote every day. Unfortunately, this plan backfired after the highlighted streamers were targeted for harassment specifically because they were the PogChamp of the day.
According to GameSpot, Leonard was in the middle of a game of Warzone with at least one other person when someone in the distance began sniping at him. Leonard shot back–verbally–by calling the player a coward and a k*** b****. Although the person Leonard was referring to had no way of hearing him, Leonard seemed to immediately realize the error of his ways and mentioned that the word just “dropped out of [his] head.” The person Leonard was playing with gave a nervous chuckle at Leonard’s expletive, but did not comment on it.
Leonard’s viewers questioned his use of the slur during his next stream, and after receiving a phone call from his wife, he cut the stream short. The NBA also claims that they have just become aware of the situation and are “gathering more information.” It’s unclear how much more information the NBA needs, or can even acquire, in order to act on Leonard’s mistake, but a statement from the organization specified that it “condemns all forms of hate speech.” On top of this, Micky Arison, the Heat’s owner, is Jewish, which does not bode well for Leonard’s future. Finally, Leonard has lost his gaming sponsorship and has had his Twitter account suspended.
There are those on social media making light of the situation, such as one Instagram user who asked whether those punishing Leonard have ever played Call of Duty before, or another who wrote, “Imagine cancel culture found out what was said on Xbox Live during Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.” While a single slur pales in comparison to the sea of vulgarity that is often found in Call of Duty’s voice channels, this doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t still be taken seriously. Many who play competitive shooters are guilty of raging after dying repeatedly, but the line should be drawn somewhere. Leonard’s misstep is a perfect opportunity for the gaming community to establish where that line is and demonstrate what can happen when it is crossed.
Source: GameSpot
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