After issuing a warning on Friday regarding a discriminatory NHL advertisement in Fort Lauderdale, Governor DeSantis and his office won the stand-off and the NHL backed down.
The initial Fort advertisement marketed a “Pathway to Hockey Summit” job fair scheduled for Feb. 2 during the 2023 All-Star Festivities in Fort Lauderdale. According to Fox News, a goal of the fair was to help “diverse job seekers who are pursuing careers in hockey.” In today’s day and age, this kind of special attention, or at least paying lip service to it, is not uncommon. What was unusual, though, was how the NHL backed it up. Its event description outright banned healthy white males from attending unless they were veterans.
“Participants must be 18 years of age or older, based in the U.S., and identify as female, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and/or a person with a disability. Veterans are also welcome and encouraged to attend,”
The rules invited a firestorm of blowback, with many on Twitter criticizing the sports league for the move.
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Team Desantis member Christina Pushaw clarified that discrimination was illegal, regardless of which racial group it was targeting.
.@NHL: You are officially on notice about your planned events in Florida. Unlawful discrimination will not be tolerated. https://t.co/thkSWaumZB
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) January 14, 2023
NHL backtracks and now says their event in Florida is open to everyone! Always push back against the woke agenda! 😎🌴🇺🇲 https://t.co/qG7rF00hXX
— Jeanne 😎🌴🇺🇲 (@JeanneRae49) January 14, 2023
The NHL is holding a career event in Florida next month, but restricting attendance based on sex, sexual orientation, or disability class (see last paragraph).
Is that even legal? @BryanDGriffin @ChristinaPushaw @GovRonDeSantis pic.twitter.com/1Al2p1l1GI
— The Durham Report (@TheDurhamReport) January 13, 2023
GO GET EM GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS! 😬
We need to keep this racist cantankerous shit out of Florida! Whites aren’t allowed in the the NHL anymore? When a job posting doesn’t include 60% of the US population, it ain’t welcome here!🖕#JimCrowDemocrats🤜🏻🚫🤛🏾
— Ray J Politics (@RayJPolitics1) January 14, 2023
DeSantis Spokesman Bryan Griffin gave a statement from DeSantis’s office responding to the news, indicating that such discrimination would not be tolerated in the Sunshine State.
“Discrimination of any sort is not welcome in the state of Florida, and we do not abide by the woke notion that discrimination should be overlooked if applied in a politically popular manner or against a politically unpopular demographic. We are fighting all discrimination in our schools and our workplaces, and we will fight it in publicly accessible places of meeting or activity.”
However, it wasn’t left there. Instead of ending with general condemnation, the DeSantis office statement called on the NHL to renounce the rules.
“We call upon the National Hockey League to immediately remove and denounce the discriminatory prohibitions it has imposed on attendance to the 2023 ‘Pathway to Hockey’ summit,”
In response to the confrontation, the NHL immediately backtracked, claiming that the “original wording of the LinkedIn post associated with the event was not accurate,” in a statement to Fox News Digital.
The NHL deleted the event posting from its LinkedIn account on Friday night, drawing praise for the Governor’s performance.
The NHL recently posted about an upcoming job fair in Florida, announcing it would be limited to certain politically popular groups only
Until Ron DeSantis stepped in, and they immediately backed down.
Score another win for the free state of Florida.https://t.co/5RZGSG1vKn
— OutKick (@Outkick) January 14, 2023
The man stands against Woke ideology and delivers results.
NHL Reverses Course On ‘Discriminatory’ Job Fair After DeSantis Warns It Won’t Be Tolerated In Florida https://t.co/Vx8YXUfmzG
— Taylor (@2019wasbetter) January 15, 2023
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NHL backtracks after Florida Gov. Ron Desantis' office blasts league for 'discriminatory' job fair https://t.co/6rc0AaG5lR Thank you Governor DeSantis!
— WhoCares (@WhoCares7734) January 15, 2023
THIS IS THE WAY: NHL backtracks after Florida Gov. Ron Desantis’ office blasts league for ‘discrimin… https://t.co/19RVkRVqvY
— Soph (@sophiatseliem) January 15, 2023
.@RonDeSantisFL has been very clear: Unlawful discrimination won't be tolerated in Florida. He backs up his words with actions.
Often, Corporate Wokeness is a paper tiger. Corporations do this because they don't expect conservative leaders to push back. Grateful our Gov does! https://t.co/VNfiltNl9s
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) January 14, 2023
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