How former NHL stars can cause harm with their huge platforms

Playing in the NHL undoubtedly brings recognition and a platform. Elite NHL players see their voice and brands amplified after seasons of success and accolades. At times, however, fans conflate on-ice skill with off-ice social and political knowledge.

When celebrity athletes’ platforms are used to communicate opinions, these sometimes-harmful ideas are often given undue credence. Even when presented with facts that refute these opinions, once formed, research shows beliefs are difficult to change, and the influence of celebrity endorsement and opinion is powerful in shaping behaviors.

One such athlete, Teemu Selanne, has increasingly spoken about politics and social issues, making false equivalencies between a population decline in California and a law restricting police dog violence. He also shared anti-refugee sentiments, and more recently, linked the Nashville mass shooting to being transgender.

“Are you kidding me? Now you feel sorry for trans community??? Wow …trans women just killed six innocent people and you feel sorry for trans people…. Jesus Christ….” Selanne tweeted in response to United States press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stating the transgender community in America is under attack. Hours later, Selanne attempted to backpedal, but his original opinion reached nearly two million people more than the self-rebutting reply.

Another, Theoren Fleury, has repeatedly posted conspiracy theories and spread disinformation and misinformation about a number of topics from climate change to public health, and has targeted the LGBTQ+ community and the art form of drag.

Last week, PK Subban, who has made positive philanthropic impacts and been a voice for anti-racism, joined the group of former NHL stars using his platform to speak on issues, weighing in on Pride celebrations. It was a stance immediately met with backlash.

“We cannot push everyone to be an activist, we need to be very careful,” Subban said of wearing Pride jerseys. “I feel people pick and choose what they want to talk about and I don't like it when we put the onus on athletes to be activists…You can support the LGBTQ community without having to wear a hat, a t-shirt or a jersey."

Subban and Fleury have alluded to their awareness of the influence they have on fans and followers, but only in terms of their self-perceived positive influence.

“You know, the fortunate thing about this, a lot of people talk about me on social media and what I do in my time. But I've done a lot of work in the community. I've done a lot of things to build a following and where people want to follow me and see what I do…” Subban told Sportsnet in 2022 while discussing anti-Black racism in hockey.

“You know, I see it on my social media every day. I've posted different things. And in this case, I think I've been very responsible with the platform that I have. You look at my history and the things that I've done with my social media. It's all been about the good of the game and bringing people into our game and inclusiveness, and that's what I've tried to do.”

Fleury, in his Twitter bio, identifies himself as a self-proclaimed “Patriot and lover of freedom” and “advocate for those who still haven’t found their voice.”

According to scholars, however, athletes speaking for others, particularly groups to which they do not belong, can cause harm and further marginalization.

“It’s been really disappointing,” said MacIntosh Ross, an assistant professor of kinesiology at Western University. “These are big names in the hockey world. This stuff emboldens the intolerant and reinforces the very marginalization that many teams are trying to overcome.”

The influence of celebrity on political campaigns, social movements, purchasing habits, fashion, language, and behavior has been well documented in research, including the powerful influence of athletes. According to Kristi Allain, an associate professor at St. Thomas University, who has researched and written extensively on hockey, celebrity opinions can often supersede research based facts.

“The insular nature of hockey and celebrity leads people to believe that their opinions on things matter when they absolutely do not,” Allain said.

“Celebrity claims authority. I also think today’s culture of individualism and the significance of free speech, especially for those on the right, have worked to discredit actual experts, leaving holes for celebrity opinion to matter even more. Of course, opinions are just opinions and actual expertise matters quite a lot. The issue is, however, that there are few experts and many more non-experts with opinions.”

As these scholars assert, former athletes opining on social, political, or legal issues can be misleading. Alternatively, these influential individuals can also give voice to historically marginalized groups, such as Subban sharing his lived experience related to anti-Black racism and the need to recognize Black history.

In this instance, however, Subban, who is not an out member of the LGBTQ+ community provided an ill-received opinion on behalf of a group to which he does not identify with. As Subban acknowledged related to issues facing the Black community, outsiders are often unable to comprehend the needs of other oppressed communities.

“If you're not Black, you're not going to understand… for us, this is life…” he said in 2022. “This is life for people that look like me who have gone through the game of hockey. And that's part of the history, whether we like it or not, and we're trying to change that. I'm an advocate to change that.”

As Subban did with anti-racism, athletes who belong to the LGBTQ+ community, such as four-time Olympic medallist and nine-time World Championship medallist Julie Chu, often speak to oppose homophobia and transphobia, and support Pride initiatives.

As Chu, the head coach of the Concordia University Stingers women’s hockey team and a Harvard graduate Tweeted in reaction to the Vancouver Canucks’ Pride night initiatives, “These events matter! To my family. To those a part of this community. To those who are but are afraid to be open about it. To those who are not, but who truly accept people for who we are.”

Chu, who was also the first Asian American to play for USA’s national women’s hockey team, is married to four-time Canadian Olympic gold medallist and IIHF Hall of Famer Caroline Ouellette.

While messages like Chu’s on Pride and Subban’s on anti-racism can be valid and important, a balancing act exists for athletes speaking on issues of equity and inclusion. As Taylor McKee, a researcher and assistant professor at Brock University focusing on the sociocultural intersections of sport and society says, the platform and celebrity given to athletes can create positive change, but it can also cause harm.

“A by-product of what can be considered the ‘player empowerment era’ over the past two decades, coupled with the emergence of athlete social media, is fans learning a lot more about athletes and their opinions,” said McKee. “Certainly, many athletes have leveraged these platforms to achieve meaningful progress in communities that are important to them. But this changing dynamic also provides platforms for the proliferation of harmful pseudo-information, retrograde attitudes towards marginalized communities, and, in some cases, outright hatred.”

The increasing inability of media consumers to discern opinions and false or pseudo-information from fact is a key reason why education systems are rapidly implementing ​​media literacy programming to the classroom. As defined by the National Association for Media Literacy Education, media literacy provides the skills needed to “both comprehend the messages we receive and effectively utilize these tools to design and distribute our own messages. Being literate in a media age requires critical thinking skills that empower us as we make decisions, whether in the classroom, the living room, the workplace, the boardroom, or the voting booth.”

Coupled with attacks on journalism in North America, and backlash facing journalists tasked with reporting on and analyzing what athletes say publicly, the issue of media literacy has been magnified. In response to Pride, Subban claimed journalists are being irresponsible with the messages they’re relaying.

"The people that write the articles, the people that push certain narratives in the media they have to be held accountable," he told Reuters. "The frustrating thing for me is there are people in the media who have the responsibility to do their job a certain way and they don't.”

Fleury regularly shares information claiming the government and media lie or intentionally deceive the public, which he calls “the false truth of the commercializations of lies.” Fleury however, often shares opinions from media outlets, politicians, and conspiracy theorists he ideologically aligns with. According to Allain, this is another source of the false equivalency between celebrity athletes and the accurate dissemination of knowledge and information.

“When celebrities parrot opinions held by many they add incredible weight to these ideas - even when they do harm,” said Allain. “Right-wing populists have worked hard to create the illusion of democratic equality by making all ideas appear to hold equal weight - even when this is entirely untrue.”

Prolonged attempts to discredit journalists, according to McKee, coupled with the fear journalists face related to retribution from teams, outlets, and leagues, have led to the unfounded opinions of athletes going unchecked.

“Even though athletes are perhaps subjected to more media coverage than in previous generations, they are often not held accountable for their public stances, since further scrutiny can cause journalists to lose privileged access,” explained McKee.

“Furthermore, in the mind of some athletes, the legitimacy of their opinions is validated by the sheer number of those who subscribe to hear their thoughts, literally agreeing to ‘follow’ or ‘like’ them. The NHL, and by extension the homosocial environments found in the majority of hockey locker rooms, create spaces where these thoughts, worldviews, and theories often go untested and unquestioned, including many years after players’ retirement for the sake of protecting their images and legacies.”

As experts assert, athletes have a voice and the right to use their platform to protest, advocate, and spread information. As stated, the celebrity status of athletes, however, does not unequivocally give validity to those ideas or opinions.