Twenty-year-old Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly found himself at the centre of a social-media fiasco on Friday for comments he made earlier in the day. Had he uttered a racial epithet, disparaged a minority group or said something in favour of/opposition to the NHL’s move into enhanced statistics?
No. He’d said the Leafs had to work hard and not be girls during a tough time for the team. TSN.ca's Jonas Siegel provided Rielly's statement:
In the hubbub that followed, there was an immediate backlash from hockey fans who found the comment sexist. There was a backlash to the backlash, as many commenters felt the initial reaction was over-the-top. And, finally, there was the inevitable apology from Rielly.
All of that sounds terrible. In fact, a lot of it is encouraging.
Let’s start with the common practice among young men in pretty much any sport to make this kind of comment. “You throw/hit/shoot like a girl” is a pretty common taunt from the school ground on up, and its pervasiveness both provides a built-in excuse for Rielly and an important argument in favo ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Jonathan Willis
Morgan Rielly’s Unfortunate Wrong in Disparaging Women Followed by Many Rights
February 20th, 2015 by Jonathan Willis Leave a reply »
Advertisement