NHLSports & Race

NHLer Victimized By Racial Taunt Accused Of Using Homophobic Taunt

Last week, the Philadelphia Flyers’ Wayne Simmonds, who is black, had a banana thrown at him during a preseason game. The incident was widely, and rightly condemned, and Simmonds handled it about as well as anyone could.

Well, it didn’t take long for the shoe to find the other foot. Last night, as many, many players have before him, Simmonds got into an altercation with the Rangers’ Sean Avery. And in its aftermath, Avery said Simmonds directed a homophobic slur at him. Given Avery’s lightning-rod reputation and vocal support of gay marriage, using such a word to him is a guaranteed attention-getter. Here’s what appears to be the moment in question (NOTE: since posting the video below, there’s been other footage aired of what appears to be the moment in question: you can [sort of] see it here):

Lip-reading to the best of our abilities, there are a couple possible things Simmonds could have said there, and the slur in question is one of them. Simmonds declined to get into specifics of what was said, saying he didn’t remember all the particulars and that he and Avery were going “back and forth.” That he didn’t deny Avery’s charge, though (UPDATE: Simmonds now denies it, but you can still see the above video and decide for yourself), suggests that he indeed said what it looked like he did – i.e., what Avery accused him of saying.

Look, no one’s a complete angel in this – Avery’s got a long history of provoking conflict, and one ex-teammate said that in Avery’s more immature days, he’d say the kinds of things that might get Simmonds understandably riled up. But that doesn’t make it a good thing for Simmonds to say what it appeared he did, even in the heat of the moment (he mentioned in his postgame comments that exchanges like the one he had with Avery are part of “the battle of the game”).

We’re sure Simmonds didn’t intend to cause harm with what he said, but by his own admission, we’re still at a point where remarks like that are “part of the game.” And no matter what those remarks are and at whom they’re directed, as long as they’re still being used so casually, and with the users secure in the knowledge that they don’t really mean those things, they’re going to be said for a long time.