Without live games taking place every night, NHL teams have been finding ways to keep players connected to their fans while the league is paused.
That went horribly wrong for the New York Rangers on Friday, as a newly-signed prospect was subjected to racial slurs on a Zoom Q&A.
K’Andre Miller was participating in the team’s “Future Fridays” Twitter series, which allowed the first 500 fans who clicked on a link to listen in on an interview. During that video chat, a racial slur repeatedly was typed out in the forum.
The Rangers were forced to shut the session down after just 17 seconds, and released a statement Friday night.
“We held an online video chat with fans and New York Rangers prospect K’Andre Miller, during which a vile individual hijacked the chat to post racial slurs, which we disabled as soon as possible,” the Rangers said. “We were incredibly appalled by this behavior, which has no place online, on the ice, or anywhere, and we are investigating the matter.”
There’s no room for that despicable behavior anywhere, and certainly not in hockey. That’s why, according to NHL writer John Shannon, the FBI has gotten involved with the investigation.
The defensemen was drafted in 2018 in the first round out of the University of Wisconsin, and agreed to an entry-level deal with the team on March 16.
