Ice hockey team forced to apologise for violent mascot after joke fight backfires
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A professional ice hockey team has been forced to issue an apology for a piñata joke which provoked an angry newspaper column and outrage on social media.
At half-time during the Minnesota Wild's game against the Montreal Canadiens this week, a selection of NHL mascots took to the ice to celebrate Nordy's "birthday".
Nordy - the Wild's mascot - was "blindfolded" and given a baseball bat in order to crack open a piñata being held up by Tommy Hawk - the mascot of the Chicago Blackhawks. But all part of the prank was that Nordy would miss the piñata and instead hit Tommy Hawk - who had earlier shoved cake in his face backstage.
Egged on by the announcer, Nordy started swinging with a little too much fervour, connecting with Tommy Hawk's midriff before hitting his fellow mascot at least 10 times. He was eventually dragged away by the NJ Devil as Louie - the St Louis Blues mascot - looked on aghast.
"Nordy, you hit the piñata! Keep swinging, keep swinging," the announcer implored. "You almost broke it open!"
Tommy Hawk lay "unconscious" - maybe even "dead" - on the ice.
While the reaction from the crowd seemed fairly lukewarm, responses on Twitter - where a video of the incident was shared - and in the pages of the esteemed Chicago Tribune were far less enthusiastic.
In a column titled "Violent NHL mascot skit delivers a blow to league's family-friendly image", reporter Chris Kuc described the "fight" as "disturbing".
"I was glad I wasn't in the stands with my young son having to explain why his favorite mascot was just apparently beaten with a baseball bat," Kuc explained.
"Whatever the Wild were thinking, it clearly was not about the children in the stands.
"Shame on the Wild for that."
Over on Twitter, the outrage machine was in full flow too.
One woman commented: "How exactly should I explain this to my kids? As a mom and even as a former mascot, I find this despicable. As a mascot, I would've been fired and sued for damages to the suit."
Another said: "Promoting violence in front of thousands of people and kids. Come on Wild....gotta be smarter than that."
While the NHL initially tweeted out photos of the fight to its 5.3m followers, the league later contacted the Wild asking them to explain themselves, Kuc reports.
The Wild issued a statement: "We apologize to anyone offended by the mascot skit Thursday night. It was certainly not our intention."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments