Harassment and abuse of professional athletes has been at the forefront of everyone’s minds lately. Whether it’s a player for the England national soccer team, an NBA player in any arena, or a suspended member of the Colorado Avalanche, professional athletes are facing hate, especially those that are people of colour.
Colorado centre Nazem Kadri was off the ice serving an eight-game suspension as his team was knocked out of the playoffs against the Vegas Golden Knights, and fans sought out his personal social media profile to direct their hateful and racist messages.
The vile messages were first shared through his cat’s Instagram account, then spread through the hockey world.
“These racist comments Nazem received are disgusting. Just wanted to share a few of them with you but this happens regularly for him. This is Islamophobia. This has to stop,” the Instagram post read.
This comes less than a week after Kadri — one of the few NHL players of Muslim faith and just the second player in league history of Lebanese descent — offered his love and support to the family that was tragically killed by the hateful attack in his hometown of London, Ont.
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