Federal Mediator Guy Serota Fired Hours After Being Assigned to NHL Lockout

by Tim Culverhouse on Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 12:30AM

Just hours after being assigned to the ongoing NHL lockout, commissioner Guy Serota of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service was relieved of his duties in the mediation process between the two sides.

Why, you ask?

After Serota was assigned to the mediation Monday afternoon, Twitter users took to the Internet to discover who one of the men leading the charge to hopefully end the NHL lockout was. Serota’s account left some questions to be answered.

Hockey Buzz blogger Travis Yost snapped a couple of screenshots of some interesting Serota tweets where Serota made racially insensitive comments and harassed actress/comedian Sarah Silverman. Shortly after, FMCS Director George H. Cohen released a statement essentially firing Serota.

“Accordingly, in order to immediately dispel any cloud on the mediation process, and without regard to the merits of the allegations, I have determined to take immediate action, namely to remove commissioner Serota from this assignment,” Cohen said.

Serota alleges his account was hacked, according to email correspondence with ESPN hockey writer Pierre LeBrun.

Reached Serota via email a few minutes ago and when asked if his Twitter account had indeed been hacked, he responded: ``Yes.''
—
Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) November 26, 2012

The FMCS said it would make no further statements in regards to the situation but said Serota will be left out of further talks. In one of the oddest situations regarding labor discussions in history, the advice of “don’t press send” couldn’t be more evident.

Photo via Facebook/Guy Serota