Simmonds blasts 'gutless' tweeters
Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds was sickened by the dozens of racist and vulgar comments that Twitter users directed at his close friend, Washington’s Joel Ward, after he scored an overtime goal to defeat host Boston, 2-1, in Game 7 of their first-round series Wednesday.
Simmonds blasts 'gutless' tweeters
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
Wayne Simmonds was not happy about racist tweets directed at Washington's Joel Ward. (Kathy Willens/AP)
Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds was sickened by the dozens of racist and vulgar comments that Twitter users directed at his close friend, Washington’s Joel Ward, after he scored an overtime goal to defeat host Boston, 2-1, in Game 7 of their first-round series Wednesday.
“It’s the Internet. They can say whatever they want, and they don’t have to show their faces,” said Simmonds, who, like Ward, is one of 28 black players in the NHL. “It’s disgusting. Things like that have happened to me before. It’s not something you want to happen, but it’s sad in this day and age that it continues to happen.”
Simmonds, 23, and Ward, 31, both grew up in Scarborough, Ontario, but they didn’t meet until about five years ago. They have trained together in the last two off-seasons.
“We’re good buddies and it was nice to see him score. You could see the relief on his face,” Simmonds said after the Flyers’ practice Thursday in Voorhees. “The celebration was classic. He just smashed his stick into the ice, and it was pretty funny.”
Simmonds, who denied tweets that he received racial slurs during the Flyers’ recent games in Pittsburgh, said social media is getting out of hand.
“It is what it is. People can be as gutless as they want,” he said. “They don’t have to show up. They just throw a comment out on the Internet and it’s getting kind of ridiculous. Social media is not meant for that. It’s for ‘Say, hey, nice score. Congratulations.’ You’re not supposed to throw things out like that.”
In the preseason, a fan threw a banana peel at Simmonds during a Sept. 22 exhibition in London, Ontario, against Detroit. The 26-year-old man was fined $200 for “provincial trespassing,” but police said there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him with a hate crime.
“I guess it is what it is, but it’s sad I have to say that, though,” Simmonds said of the latest incidents.
Ward told USA Today the slurs were “shocking to see, but it didn't ruin my day. It doesn't faze me at all. We won, and we are moving on. … People are going to say what they want to say.”
Ted Leonsis, the Capitals’ owner, wrote on his blog that “there should be zero tolerance for this kind of hate mongering. Their messages should now stay glued into the algorithms to place a forever warning and a mark upon these people and their actions.”
Leonsis called Ward “a great teammate and a great citizen. He is now the star of stars in our city for his heroics” on Wednesday night.
Ward said he thought it was “just kids” who tweeted the comments.
Contact Sam Carchidi @scarchidi@phillynews.com, or on Twitter @BroadStBull.
Comments (67)
Well it IS Boston. But seriously, you are just giving them what they want, attention. Ignoring idiots like that is the best thing you can do.— Sidewinder7- Unfortunately these kind of racist/hateful people will always be around. You just have to ignore them. You can't stop it without taking freedom of speech away. It is a minority and Ward is right in he doesn't allow it to phase him. The good news is that I think these social sites are constantly coming up with ways to ignore and delete these types of morons, but the trust is it is just a part of life. The majority of people do not support that kind of behavior.— ChrisM
- unfortunately there always has been, and always will be, idiots...— nyphilliephan
- Also as for Ted Leonsis, the Capitals’ owner he should have a clue of how easy it is to avoid word filters. Also it is not a social network's resposibility to police free speech Racist, sexist homophobic comments are not illegal in this country. They wanted a reaction and you are supplieing it. Instead of ignoring these comments, he is giving them power.— Sidewinder7
- Actually, Twitter can censor you if they wish. It's part of their TOS and it's their service, there is no guarantee of free speech on Twitter, Facebook or even in these comments. — Kumaryu
- Not sure about Boston but all the Flyers fans cheered when Ward scored last night.
- It is people like this guy that make me sick. There is no place for that kind of stuff! Hockey players are from all over the world and in all colors so shows ome respect because they are doing what you only wish you could do! That guy is a coward and a moron! As hockey fans we all need to show some respect to the player even if we do not like them! I am a FLYERS FAN but I will give credit to every one who has every played hockey in the NHL or AHL well for that matter as a pro period! There is no place for that kind of comment in Pro hockey or in the world grow up dude and get a life! LETS GO FLYERS!!!!— srcdaddy1216
- pats lose to jints in super bowl. red sox not doing so well. celts not as good any more. and bruins out in first round. guess that makes the racists pretty angry.— P Even
- Its Wayans World Baby!!!— FoRealTruth
Comment removed.- Hopefully Simmonds doesn't read the comments on articles about the Trayvon Martin case (especially articles on Fox News and more conservative websites). The outright racism is shocking and embarrassing. Truly disgraceful. Look past it Simmer, and be the better man that you are.— snipesmorris
- Guess there are some who have no life except to be the role models for those who need to know what not to do in life...— ruthlezzone
- Were it not for the good amount of African-American professional athletes whom represented Boston/NE over the years, Boston/NE would not all of those other major sports championships. Oh, and the Bruins even had Anson Carter...— lookyhere
- Hey, this is social networking, too, huh? Seems the anonymity brings out the idiot's true colors. Congratulations, Joel Ward....and we love Wayne here in Philly.— PhillySubsMac
- It is sad that we still read about this stuff. I am proud to have Simmonds on my team. He is a great player, leader and seems to be a great guy. "Just kids" is no excuse. Those kids need to be smacked in the head!— chase26TJ
- Boston has been known for it's racist side. In years past, why were the Celtics so popular...because of the white players they fielded. A sad commentary of our social misfits today.— unclejed
- These racists cowards want to get you pissed off. The way to defeat them is to ignore them. Don't let them get you, otherwise they win.— ej610
- Sidewinder7- no of course, not. And that's not what he said. At all. Love how take a small shot to defend free speech. He said their words should be forever imprinted...they won't be. people can delete the Tweet and it's gone. Sure, if might come up on a search engine or screen shot, but it's deleted from Twitter then the original is gone. He did not suggest, in that quote above, that blogs filter out those comments period. Sounds like a typical right wing conversative Republican creedo that there should be no rules on guns, speech, or capitalism, just on gays, marriage, adoption, birth control, my bedroom, and taxes on the poor. Bravo.— MichaelZoe
- with every positive thing in life, there is a negative side to it...such as social networking and the people who live cyber lives— jamarder
- hey jed where have you been? celtics had a pretty good center who was black and if i am not mistaken was the first black coach in american sports.— wildgreenman
- While the racist slurs make me sick, you ideally don't want to suppress speech (although I guess private companies are free to ban users). Plus, some posters want to stay anonymous not to throw out insults, but to maintain privacy ... which is why Facebook and G+ are so unappealing to some.
I'm sorry you have to bear such vulgarity Simmonds. We're all rooting for you! Go Flyers.— econ07 - Hey, if you can play with all these racist fans at the games in Philly, you can handle the tweets. Just wait, make a crucial mistake, and all the Flyer Klans, I mean Flyer fans will show their true colors, minus the hoods of course.— wawa22
- simmons is da man. and some of the brothas are starting to watch hockey now because of it. a friend of mine was wearing a simmons shirt last week and a brotha bought him a beer cuz he liked it. hilarious.— Zero
- They're are A-holes born every minute, part of life, all we can do is ignore it, they'll get theirs somewhere along the line! Just sayin'...— DJ
- BwaHaaaaHAA! A bunch of racist sore losers! Boston got beat in the worse way possible: at home in game 7 and in overtime. Go on and spout any thing you want, you still LOST! See you next year...— Getinline
- I am very pleasantly surprised to see the positive support from the posters here today. Bigotry is alive but maybe not as well as it has been. Props to you Philly fans. Go Flyers - 4 for 4 Philly guy!!!— kaya jj
- reminds me of that great david chapelle bit about racism in boston: "when i visited boston, i saw an irish guy beating up an italian guy. and i thought, man, these guys are specific!"— tockeyhockey
- The majority of the time, racial issues are always black. There are white, latino, and asian racial issues that happen but no one cares or makes a big deal about it unless it involves black people. Watch the SNL Jeremy Lin skit and it hits it on the head. Black people can make racial slurs and jokes but as soon as one is used on a black person they go psycho and blow it out of proportion. This double standard has existed for years and will continue too.— hahasonny
- its funny, all Simmonds had to do to find some bigotry was browse through the comments once in a while on Philly.com ... the right wing here lets it fly with reckless abandon! kind of how Simmonds plays the game...— recoveryroad
- It was probably Tim Thomas's Mom!— quigly46
- Life is like a box of chocolates......— NYPHILLYPHAN
- Really Wawa? you are the people simmonds is talking about. That said, this was bound to come to a head after pitt fans' recent outburst at simmonds because their team couldnt perform in a series. It really is a sad state of affairs.— frstrm
- Unfortunately, you can't fix 'stupid'— C-Note
- BAWSTON DIDN'T GET THEY'RE OWN WAY.ERRA ERRA DEY DON'T GET TO PAWTY THIS YEAAAR ERRA ERRA .— evenmix
- BAWSTON DIDN'T GET THEY'RE OWN WAY.ERRA ERRA DEY DON'T GET TO PAWTY THIS YEAAAR ERRA ERRA .— evenmix
- errraaahhh, Myyyyy fellow Americans, weeeeee neeeeed to disbaaaand aaall 29 other NHL teeeeams. errraaahh then the Bruins will win!
--Ted Kennedy's ghost— AnukKrakatoa - Simmer has had a career year this year since coming from LA in the Richards trade. 28 goals (career high) and 49 points also career high. I don't care what color a person is as long as he plays to the best of his ability and produces. Boston idiot fans are sore there team has shot it's bolt and are finished. Still absolutely no reason to attack something a person has no choice about; their color. We're all human beings and these internet chat rooms have gotten out of control, especially ESPN's...dumping ground of all the childish morons!— AnukKrakatoa
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- I agree this racism is out of control. I mean look at ol George Zimmerman, the guy was castrated in the media. NBC edits the 911 call. The pictures released were a mean lookin George and a innocent kid Trayvon. The POTUS comments on what a travesty it was. The great dividers Al and Jesse were marching. YET not one day in court ever occurred. I agree with all those stating racism is out of control, me and my fellow white men are under barrage all day from all media outlets. when will it stop???— 420Phillie
- See this bull every day on the internet. No room for racist comments. I know I enjoyed Ward's goal last night knocking out the Bruins! My 2 boys both wanted and got for Christmas Wayne Simmonds jerseys. I don't see color on the ice I see hockey players!! We need to ignore idiots like that who post those type of comments.— slade1955
- That's the way it is. It's sad, but it will be even sadder if bills like CISPA get passed. Let's not get carried away and end up with the police state intruding on the Internet too.— lowflyer
- In this situation, the way you get to racist people who tweet racist messages is to keep winning!!!!!— rev
- The same ignorance Jackie Robinson had to endure. He's gone but not forgotten. Sorry it didn't work. He still made it— Showtime226
- This kind of hate filled stuff is going to be around as long as cowards can hide behind a fake name. Face to face they never say this stuff unless they know you have the same prejudices. As a professional tech guy I love the phrase the owner used and believe me I am going to start spreading it around to all my tech friends, "Glued into the algorithms." That is poetry. Spread that around - make something positive out of something negative. If that goes viral then people will always wonder where it came from. And you will know the story. On to facebook we go.....
Wait maybe he heard it somewhere?— Simon Nolet - I'm a die hard Philadelphia fan who lives in Boston. I'm saddened to hear anything to to do with racialism in society. It's pure chicken &@&@&@— adipaolo
- Hope the incident provides motivation, not a distraction, to Ward and Simmonds.— Claudio Vernight
- It's not just Boston, racists are everywhere, sad to say. Hopefully, they all burn for eternity!— JBinPA
- Take the "high road" Wayne. You'll always have ignorant bigots who, as you point out, hide behind their computer screen and say anything they want without consequence. As a fan, I am impressed with your attitude and hard work on the ice. Let your actions continue to speak for you.— dogman5
- wawa22, what the hell are you talking about? Talk about stupidity at an all new level? Geez!!!!!!
— cote32 - Hey snipes...How about you quit the political BS in here. Especially on the conservative sites. Seriously? STFU. People on both sides of the aisle are racists. Save your liberal slant for a real debate.— crossefire00
- You are correct about racism on both sides, and in both directions. I didn't say (nor do I know) if the people spewing racial hatred on articles are republican or democrat, but I don't see a lot of anti-black comments on liberal websites, do you?, and that is what we are talking about in this article. Sorry if that upsets you-- I certainly was not trying to make a political statement; more like a humanitarian one.
- I didn't realize so many Republicans were Bruins fans.— pigday31
- To be honest, I am so thankful for social networking...it makes it all that much tougher to hide from the truth about the society we live in. Sure it is the minority, but it's still more than most people would like to admit.
Take for instance a comment & a response I saw after the Flyers eliminated the Penguins: I saw a comment about how hockey is for "white trash" who are inferior athletes to black men; and the response was that it would be better if black men were "hung".
I think hatred like this needs to be brought to the masses through vehicles like social network; it exposes the ignorance & racism that still exists in this country and world at a large...and hopefully gives the righteous all the more motivation to get to the ROOT of the problem, (not just get pissed about the end results).— Reality Speaks - This is a riot all the self righteous comments. If the Flyers had been ousted of the playoffs by the same player it would have been the same social hate coming from this City. Bunch of hippocrates.....— delcodanno
In the end the best thing is to not be "connected" with Twitter, etc. I'm like Coach Reid in that regard, I'm not sure what a tweet is, but it wasn't a good tweet.......
- If you want to find out what a tweet is you might call Councilman Jim Kenney - he's contracted a company to help him tweet and it only costs #28,800 per year.
Of course you'll have to cough up the money yourself - Kenney charges it to us, the taxpayers... - Unfortunately, the anonymity of twitter and comments to articles has set the stage for the immature, negative, and even racist portions of the population to run rampant.
And, unfortunately, sports and politics is where much of this type of commentary runs rampant.
I've been known to poke the bear a little bit when it comes to Flyer fans (1975!!), but I don't insult people or wish harm on them. And I'm always disheartened by what I read on blogs and twitter, whether it's the n-word from Boston, Philly fans talking about how they want to see Crosby have another concussion, or Pitt fans saying something similarly hurtful.
Have fun and instigate each other, but at the end of the day, it's just sports.
I have to say it again: 1975. lol— WhatWhiners - Unfortunately, the anonymity of twitter and comments to articles has set the stage for the immature, negative, and even racist portions of the population to run rampant.And, unfortunately, sports and politics is where much of this type of commentary runs rampant.I've been known to poke the bear a little bit when it comes to Flyer fans (1975!!), but I don't insult people or wish harm on them. And I'm always disheartened by what I read on blogs and twitter, whether it's the n-word from Boston, Philly fans talking about how they want to see Crosby have another concussion, or Pitt fans saying something similarly hurtful.Have fun and instigate each other, but at the end of the day, it's just sports.I have to say it again: 1975. lol (HTML deleted)— WhatWhiners
- Best thing to do is ignore it, as the first commenter suggested. If I were a professional athlete I would never look at social media stuff (including comments here). Why bother? Just ignore it because the people behind the keyboard (like myself) are anonymous and can say anything we want with no recourse. :)— Sam Crow
- I know that the best thing to do is to ignore it, but why do people say it?
The Boston fans know that it's racist and wrong; Flyer fans know that it's wrong to wish concussions on players; Pitt fans know that it's wrong to make whatever hateful comments they made about the Flyers.
It's just a sad statement that sports means so much.— WhatWhiners - hey stop the b.s. america is a country based and built on racism period there are more than just a few people" out their like that and they reside in ALL sectors pretending racism is miniscule is nothing but a lie..when jack johnson won a fight against a so-called white man whites in different parts of the country would lynch black men same mindset then is still here today.— only 9
- If you really want to show your support for Simmonds and Ward, the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation is always looking for volunteers.— AreaMan
- Racism is going to be around as long as stupid people are alive. I say, if you're good enough to make the team then I don't care what color you are, what sex you are, or what species you are. If you can score and play decent D then welcome to the team. Personally, I jumped up and screamed good things when Ward scored and sent the B's on an early vacation. I hate the Bruins- bunch of dirty thugs.— Fly Guy
- My hats off to black hockey players. They are class acts.I am a big fan of Wayne Simmonds. Positive for the NHL.
The NBA and NFL have far too many idiots like Men of World Peace and Michael Vick that cannot speak or act properly. No Class!— mik5 - Way to go Simmer!— MBFlyerfan
- Good supportive comments re Simmonds, yet Flyer fans posted many homophobic slurs about the Pens -- individual players and as a team -- on your blog during the Pens v Flyers series. I am a Penguins fan, but I find this very disturbing.— pensfaninphilly
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Broad Street Bull is the Inquirer's blog covering the Philadelphia Flyers and the National Hockey League.
Reach Sam at scarchidi@phillynews.com.
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