Flyers right winger Wayne Simmonds first hit national headlines last week when an ignorant hockey fan in Ontario threw a banana on the ice as Simmonds took a shot during an overtime shootout in an exhibition game against the Detroit Red Wings (tangent question: who brings a banana to a hockey game?)
But he’s again the center of terrible attention after television cameras caught him yelling quite distinctly during another exhibition game last night the gay slur “f—ing f—–t” to well-known hockey thug Sean Avery in a game between the Flyers and New York Rangers.
Simmonds has reportedly been called to discuss what he said with NHL
Commissioner Gary Bettman and the calls for punishing him in some
fashion have begun in earnest today: Gay rights organization GLAAD is condemning the slur and so’s Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke, whose son was gay and was the motivation behind Burke’s activism in recent years for gay rights and equality.
