Hockey fans love big trades
and young, fast players but Tyler Seguin will be fighting to fit into his new
home. Ex-Boston Bruin winger Seguin, 21, stunned his new Dallas home, and many
hockey fans as well after a controversial homophobic tweet.
The tweet is a partial line
from the 1987 award winning war film “Full Metal Jacket”
but was instantly found
offensive. The comment was posted merely minutes before taken off Twitter, but
a minute was long enough to cause lasting effects for Seguin’s career.
Seguin was traded to the
Dallas Stars on July 4th, in what might be considered the biggest
trade of the summer, but he will likely experience difficulties finding sponsors
in his new town. Why endorse a player who has openly mocked your city? Or for
that matter, why endorse someone who seems to have no problem offending a large
portion of Americans?
Seguin immediately responded
to this homophobic tweet with this one:
After repeated attempts by "hackers"
to try to damage my reputation I have decided to shut down my twitter account
for a while. – Tyler Seguin (@tylerseguin92) July 07, 2013.
While many could believe
friends posted the offensive tweet, Seguin’s track record is not promising. In
April, Seguin was called into a meeting for yet another homophobic comment
appearing on his Twitter page. Seguin later apologized for this tweet, again
suggesting friends were to blame.
Even his new team seems
skeptical he was “hacked.” Stars general manager Mike Nill felt it necessary to
both speak privately with Seguin as well as to issue a statement distancing the
team from the tweet.
However,
former teammates and managers stand behind Seguin, firmly asserting it was
likely his friends who posted the offensive tweet. Whether it’s true or not,
Seguin has a lot of work to do in proving he is not homophobic and willing to
work hard for his new team. It will likely be an uphill battle, but Seguin
claims he is ready to “move on.” He is ready to start proving himself to a new
city, and to move on from the tweet.
