NHL Player Sends Disturbing Message To Trump Right Before Stanley Cup Playoff Game – BIG Mistake!
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NHL player Devante Smith-Pelly of the Washington Capitals is now saying that if they win the Stanley Cup and are invited to the White House, he won’t go. Hockey is a bit different than other sports and it’s rare for players to deviate from the team and take personal stands.
“The things that he spews are straight-up racist and sexist,” Canada’s Postmedia quoted Smith-Pelly as saying Wednesday as the Capitals prepared for Game 5 against the Vegas Golden Knights. “Some of the things he’s said are pretty gross. I’m not too into politics, so I don’t know all his other views, but his rhetoric I definitely don’t agree with. It hasn’t come up here, but I think I already have my mind made up.”
Smith-Pelly is only one of two black players on his team and he’s from the Toronto area. This comes just a couple of days after President Trump officially disinvited the Philadelphia Eagles to the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl win. Originally, 70 were scheduled to visit. By this week it was less than ten and then dwindled to one. The team tried to reschedule for a date they knew the President would be overseas. It seemed like it was rude and like a vulgar publicity stunt.
Instead, the White House held a brief concert with the United States Marine Band and the United States Army Chorus with a crowd of patriots in attendance. I thought it was absolutely the thing to do and most Americans approved wholeheartedly.
The Capitals lead the best-of-seven series 3-1 and could hoist the Cup tonight.
According to Fox News, “the 25year-old Smith-Pelly has scored in the last two games of the finals and had six goals — two of them winners — and an assist in the playoffs. He had seven goals in 75 games in the regular season.”
I’m actually surprised by all this as President Trump has had no run-ins with the NHL. Kneeling for the National Anthem has been a non-issue in the sport. In fact, he welcomed the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins to the White House in October.
From The National Post:
“Goaltender Tim Thomas made headlines in 2011 when he refused to attend the White House ceremony for the champion Boston Bruins because “the federal government has grown out of control, threatening the rights, liberties, and property of the people.”
“The Pittsburgh Penguins, meanwhile, visited the White House when Barack Obama was still in office in 2016 and went again the following year when Trump was there.
“From my side of things, there’s absolutely no politics involved,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby told the Associated Press at the time. “Hopefully, it stays that way.”
Looks like it hasn’t unfortunately. If the Capitals win the playoffs, then choosing whether or not to go to the White House could send a strong message either way. For one, the team is located in the nation’s capital. Then there’s the fact that Washington has a Russian captain in Alex Ovechkin and a roster of players who represent the U.S., Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Finland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Australia. “Things that he’s saying about immigrants and people of color, I don’t think anyone here would agree with that,” said Smith-Pelly, who was the target of racial abuse in a game in Chicago in February. “We’ve got a lot of Europeans and a lot of Canadians.” That’s just it though, Trump is not saying anything about people of color. He’s insisting that standing for the National Anthem is the patriotic and right thing to do.
As one player joked, maybe Ovechkin, who would be the first Russian captain to win the Cup, will skip the White House and instead visit Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. “We don’t win yet,” Ovechkin said when the topic of celebrations came up. “I don’t know why people start talking about it … We just have to get it done and then we’re going to talk about all the different stuff.”
The games aren’t over yet, but they could be tonight! No matter what team wins, what do you think the NHL Stanley Cup champions will do?
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