Ex-NHLer Marc Methot comes under heavy fire over allegedly racist comment

The NHL community hasn't been devoid of controversy this calendar year. From Wayne Gretzky's association with US President Donald Trump to the booing of American anthems at Canadian arenas, the lines have been blurred between sports and politics. Now, an incident has sparked public backlash against former defenseman Marc Methot.

The Ottawa native's comments on a post detailing the Capital Pride Parade in the capital city have been termed as immensely racist. The annual parade of the LGBTQ+ community in the city was halted midway as a pro-Palestinian group, Queers for Palestinem Ottawa (Q4P), and later laid out their demands, which included a boycott of Israel in all cultural and academic means.

On the post by Dacey Media, Methot made a shocking comment.

"I can only imagine the smell down there," he said.

The former Ottawa Senators player later tried to justify that no matter what the content of his comment would be, he would face backlash.

"You reach a point where you just don’t care anymore. I have never taken this app seriously and I’m lucky that I have financial security. I’m making fun of the weird antifa people which clearly makes me a racist, homophobe bigot misogynist Islamaphobe or whatever," Methot wrote.

Fans reacted with calls for his removal as an on-air personality at TSN.

"Get a brain scan done please I want to laugh at all the holes in it," a fan wrote.

"Couldn't be any worse than the smell of your breath," another fan said.

"You should be fired," a fan simply commented.

"Lol I'm happy you exposed the kind of person you are being signed to a major sports outlet, exposes the state Canada is in," another wrote.

"Really?? The worst part is that you’re actually serious. I feel bad for your colleagues," one comment was aimed at Marc.

"What a stupid, racist thing to say. Can’t believe you’re a public figure," a fan questioned.

This isn't the first time the former NHLer has had an opinion on the annual pride parade. Last year the organizers of the event, Capital Pride, had condemned the acts of violence in the Israel-Gaza War.

That drew criticism from Jewish groups that called it anti-semitic. After the parade saw a large group of Palestinian support, Methot had said:

"Wtf is happening to our once great country? Our politicians are gutless. All of them."

Former NHLer Marc Methot's history of controversial comments

Marc Methot's previous comments on transgender participation in women's sports had also caused quite a stir on social media. In April 2024, after former US soccer player Megan Rapinoe gave an opinion about trans-participation, tweeting:

"I would never want my daughter exposed to this nonsense."

Few months later, after the saga of Imane Khelif participating at the Paris Olympics in the women's 66 kg category, former NHL star Methot yet again made his feelings known.

"You’re all complicit in this big charade. Cowards," Methot had written.

It remains to be seen if there will be any action from TSN after the former NHL player's comments about the Ottawa pride parade.

About the author

Nikhil Parshy is a baseball and ice hockey journalist at Sportskeeda, and after starting out as a cricket reporter, he has been an analyst with SK since November 2022. His interest in the sports were piqued a few years back after watching highlights on YouTube and he has followed the game ever since.

The Chicago Cubs breaking the 108-year curse in 2016 to lift the World Series remains Nikhil's favorite baseball moment. Two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani has been his favorite player ever since he started following the game, while the LA Dodgers are his favorite team.

As a writer, Nikhil maintains a strong attention to detail and rigorously cross-checks information. He seeks to strike a balance in his writing such that the regular reader gains an insight into player profiles, while also keeping in mind that the non-regular reader is not put off by jargon and shallow analysis.

Nikhil is an avid public speaker, and when not writing about baseball, he regularly participates in debates and quizzes.

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Edited by Bhargav