Charles Barkley recently had some very refreshing comments about Meyers Leonard, compassion and cancel culture.
The Miami Heat forward has been in some seriously hot water after calling someone a “k*ke b*tch” on a video game live stream, and Patriots star Julian Edelman offered to have dinner with him instead of just canceling the NBA player. Barkley was impressed by Edelman’s actions. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
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Barkley said the following in part about Edelman’s letter to Leonard and the need to show compassion while criticizing:
The constructive criticism and compassion. Letting him know he screwed up but wanting to educate him on what he was saying…If you can criticize somebody and give them compassion, I admire that and respect that. We live in a society today that’s called the cancel culture. Whenever anyone says something that’s stupid or dumb, we want to end their life. I’m not a big believer in that.
You can watch his full comments below.
I’m not sure how Barkley’s comments aren’t being way more circulated. These are words that we should all listen to and learn from.
I pretty much said the exact same thing when Edelman released his letter. Canceling people won’t get us anywhere.
Extending a hand and having a conversation will get us much further.
After Meyer Leonard used an anti-Semitic slur, NFL player Julian Edelman offered to take him to a Shabbat dinner in Miami.
This is the proper way to handle this situation. Instead of promoting cancel culture, get to know people. You’ll get better results. https://t.co/qZY2CV2Xws
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) March 10, 2021
What Meyers Leonard did was 100% unacceptable, as Barkley also pointed out, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t ever be allowed to play again.
Leonard, who was fined and suspended, needs someone to sit him down and explain to him why using the language he used isn’t okay. Do we really think he’s a closet Nazi? Of course not.
He said an anti-Semitic slur, needs to learn and lesson and then should move forward.
Meyers Leonard says racial slurs while playing CoD pic.twitter.com/WHwUnbV0pR
— Main Team (@MainTeamSports) March 9, 2021
We could all learn a lesson from the way Edelman handled the situation, and it’s great to see a guy with Barkley’s platform push back against the insane idea we should cancel anyone who makes a mistake.