Rangers, NHL respond to racist comments made to prospect K’Andre Miller on Zoom call
By Mary Clarke
The New York Rangers are investigating a Zoom conference call with prospect K’Andre Miller where anonymous fans wrote racial slurs in the chat room.
The New York Rangers and the NHL are currently looking into an incident that occurred on a Zoom conference call with 20-year-old prospect K’Andre Miller. On Friday, the Rangers held a fan chat with Miller on the conference call service Zoom, wherein the first 500 fans would be able to talk to the prospect in what was supposed to be a nice back and forth between fans and Miller.
Instead, the chat was bombarded with racial slurs and comments (here is the incident, but warning for strong, inappropriate language) during the call.
The Rangers eventually responded on Friday, stating that they were set to investigate the incident:
"We held an online video chat with fans and New York Rangers prospect, K’Andre Miller, during which a vile individual hijacked the chat to post racial slurs, which we disabled as soon as possible. We were incredibly appalled by this behavior, which has no place online, on the ice, or anywhere, and we are investigating the matter."
The NHL also responded with their own statement on the Zoom incident, condemning the act and supporting Miller. The FBI is also getting involved in the matter, according to John Shannon, as the incident may be related to the world-wide “Zoom bombing” events where hackers have gotten unauthorized access to private Zoom meetings.
After the incident, the hockey world showcased its support for Miller, including Rangers teammates Jacob Trouba and Ryan Strome.
Miller also received support from various other hockey players across the league, alongside Wisconsin Men’s Ice Hockey, where he currently plays college hockey.
https://twitter.com/JTBrown23/status/1246204789643411460
https://twitter.com/BadgerMHockey/status/1246250638650028034
Miller was drafted 22nd overall by the Rangers in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft and has played for the United States in the past two World Junior Championships.
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