Cancel culture in the NHL？
Episode Stats
Words per minute
160.72801
Summary
In May, private messages from a group chat were leaked by an anonymous account that is now deleted, but the screenshots were made public and widely circulated on social media. Among the group chat participants were Canadian hockey players Brendan Leipzig of the NHL Washington Capitals, his younger brother Jeremy Leipzig of the University of Manitoba Bisons, and Jack Rodewald of the Florida Panthers.
Transcript
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Because of the hyper focus on coronavirus right now, there is a very interesting story coming
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from the world of hockey that has kind of gone under the radar. In early May, private Instagram
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messages from a group chat were leaked by an anonymous Instagram account that is now deleted,
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but the screenshots were made public and were widely circulated on social media.
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Among the group chat participants were Canadian hockey players Brendan Leipzig of the NHL
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Washington Capitals, his younger brother Jeremy Leipzig of the University of Manitoba Bisons,
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and Jack Rodewald of the Florida Panthers. However, I should kind of be speaking in the past tense here,
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as Brendan Leipzig was placed on unconditional waivers for purpose of terminating his contract,
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and Jeremy Leipzig was kicked off of his university hockey team after these messages were made public.
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So what was so bad about this group chat that these men have effectively been kicked off of
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their hockey teams? Some of the screenshots discussed drug use or seemed to disparage other NHL players,
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but the real reason the men are in trouble is because of what they said about women,
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what the NHL called misogynistic and reprehensible remarks. The men share Instagram pictures of women,
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many of them local Winnipeg women, as some of the hockey players from the group chat are Winnipeg born,
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and some of the women are also the girlfriends or the wives of other players. When the men are not
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mocking the appearances of the women, they are discussing their sexual conquests. And in case you're
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wondering, yes, Brendan has acknowledged that the screenshots are real, so they're not fake or
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doctored, and he issued an apology. Before you say good riddance, who cares that they were kicked off
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of their hockey teams? I want you to ask yourself, if a private conversation you had with your friends
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was leaked, do you think you'd be spared? Think about everything you've said to your friends or family
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these the past week or the past month. Do you really think there was nothing you said that if it was
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made public could result in you being publicly shamed? I know I wouldn't be spared. And so that's why if
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even I find these hockey players' messages to be immature and shallow, I refrain from reveling in
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their cancellation because this same situation could happen to me, this same situation could happen to
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anyone. Granted, some bloggers and commentators are saying that if Brendan Leipzig were more of a star
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player, then the result could have been different and the league might have tried harder to keep him
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or they might have just issued a smaller punishment instead of terminating his contract. But what about
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his younger brother, Jeremy Leipzig, who was kicked off of the university hockey team? Is that really an
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appropriate reaction to just have called some women fat or have been involved in a group chat where that
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was said? Why don't these men get a second chance? And from these messages, yes, sometimes they were
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mean, but there wasn't anything criminal. And I would argue some of the messages that were leaked
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were actually not even that mean. When they were commenting about women altering their appearance by
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using too many filters or wearing too much makeup, for example, that's not mean or misogynistic. That's
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just kind of social commentary. Initially, when I saw these messages, my first thought was just kind of
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that it's funny that top tier hockey players, you would think that they have lots of important
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endeavors that they need to do, like train or meditate or spend time with their family. But it
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actually looks like they're just spending an inordinate amount of time scrolling through Instagram
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and writing petty comments about women's Instagram pictures, which is a very, very spiritually empty
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activity. Their hockey teams, I think, obviously felt like they had no choice but to distance themselves
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from the men. We've seen many recent high profile cases of hockey culture being portrayed as toxic.
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Just late last year, Don Cherry's Remembrance Day comments got him fired from Sportsnet. He was saying
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that, uh, you people don't wear poppies, but you love our land of milk and honey. And so people interpreted
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his comments to be about slamming immigrants for not wearing poppies. So I guess now the
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hockey industry wants to rebrand as a tolerant and inclusive culture. But the point is, okay,
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these men made fun of women's bodies. Does that really mean that they deserve eternal public shaming?
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I don't think so, especially considering that these men have time to grow. Yes, I understand that actions
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have consequences, but it's about what bar we want to set. Because this kind of thing where
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private messages amongst friends are leaked for whatever reason and swift public shaming follows,
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this can happen to anyone. It could happen to you. I'm Lindsay Shepard with True North. Thanks so much for