South Carolina Stingrays defenseman Jordan Subban claimed he was subjected to a racist gesture during an East Coast Hockey League game on Saturday night.
Subban, who is Black, quote-tweeted a Jacksonville Icemen Twitter post that described overtime between the two teams as beginning “with a rough fight resulting in multiple penalties on both sides.”
Subban took issue with the club’s omission of what he claimed was a racist taunt from Icemen defenseman Jacob Panetta, who was tagged in the post. Panetta’s account has since been deleted.
“More like (Panetta) was too much of a coward to fight me and as soon as I began to turn my back he started making monkey gestures at me so I punched him in the face multiple times and he turtled like the coward he is,” Subban wrote. “There fixed it.”
More like @JPanetta12 was too much of a coward to fight me and as soon as I began to turn my back he started making monkey gestures at me so I punched him in the face multiple times and he turtled like the coward he is. There fixed it ???? https://t.co/JtPqpN9wwE
— Jordan Subban (@jordansubban) January 23, 2022
On Sunday, the ECHL announced the indefinite suspension of Panetta, 26, pending a hearing under the collective bargaining agreement.
New Jersey Devils defenseman P.K. Subban, Jordan’s older brother, also took to Twitter to address the situation in a span of multiple tweets.
“They don’t call the east coast league the jungle because my brother and the other black players are the monkeys!” P.K. wrote. “Hey (Panetta) you shouldn’t be so quick delete your Twitter or your Instagram account you will probably be able to play again… that’s what history says but things are changing.”
“Now not just the hockey world knows your true colours… your hometown of Belleville knows, your family, and friends know you’re a fraud ..with everything that has gone on in the past couple years in the world I’ll say with all due respect to everyone who has an opinion, this isn’t a mistake. We all know what’s ok and what’s not. Even your own teammates wanted to see you get your clock cleaned. This happens a lot and it never gets exposed in the lower leagues. One thing that I love about this is Jordan’s teammates standing in there and showing support. Love that.”
Saturday’s alleged incident comes on the heels of a racist gesture that occurred in the American Hockey League last week. The AHL suspended San Jose Barracuda forward Krystof Hrabik for 30 games after he made a racist gesture toward Tucson Roadrunners forward Boko Imama.
–Field Level Media