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February 14, 2012 | Carolyn Simon

Category: Anti-LGBT Industry, Sports

NHL Team Suspends Prospect for Anti-Gay Tweet

The Minnesota Wild suspended prospect Justin Fontaine for two games for sending an anti-gay tweet on Sunday while watching a broadcast of the Grammy Awards.

Fontaine plays for the American Hockey League’s Houston Aeros – for reference, the league is one step below the NHL, or the equivalent of AAA baseball.

Fontaine has since deleted the offensive tweet, and later tweeted an apology: “I still feel awful about it … It’s a word I’ll never use again.”

But as of Tuesday afternoon, the tweet remained on the Twitter feed of teammate Jon DiSalvatore, who agreed with Fontaine’s original comment and retweeted it.

We applaud the Wild for taking swift action against Fontaine, and we strongly urge the team to reprimand DiSalvatore as well. Spreading a hateful message is just as damaging as sending one in the first place.