An unidentified hockey coach went viral Monday when a video surfaced of his impassioned speech warning players not to protest the national anthem.
The video, which has garnered more than 480,000 views on Twitter since being shared by user Wojciech Pawelczyk, shows the coach addressing his team and referencing recent national anthem controversies in the NFL and U.S. women’s soccer.
“We’re not women’s soccer. We’re not the NFL. If there’s anybody here who is going to be disrespectful to either the American or the Canadian national anthem, grab your gear and get the fuck out now because you’ll never see the ice in this arena,” the coach told his players. “We don’t have that problem in hockey, we’re better than that, but there was no sense in wasting anybody’s time if that shit was going to happen.”
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sparked a furious cultural debate when he kneeled to protest the national anthem during the 2016 preseason. While the action played a role in Kaepernick being exiled from the league, he was widely praised by progressives and other professional athletes soon followed his lead.
Meanwhile, U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe, a fierce critic of President Donald Trump, has made headlines recently, both for her stellar play in the 2019 Women’s World Cup and for her protests during the national anthem.
