Bruins forward A.J. Greer didn’t make any friends on the Vancouver side of things Sunday night, but he certainly didn’t do anything to warrant the level of vitriol he received from at least one fan on Instagram.
Greer knocked Canucks forward Vasily Podkolzin out of the game during a first-period fight, landing several hard punches and drawing blood.
Canucks fans and players took exception with Greer fighting the 21-year-old Podkolzin, who had zero fights as a rookie last season, and then declining to fight a tougher, more experienced Luke Schenn later in the game.
As Greer tried to point out to Schenn, however, he actually couldn’t fight again because his own right hand was now wrapped in a protective glove after the first fight. Fighting with any sort of glove, tape or other material on your hand is an automatic ejection, per NHL rules.
Greer appeared to be willing to fight Schenn the shift before he fought Podkolzin, but an official stepped in before anything happened.
On Monday, Greer called out one Instagram user who sent him a hate-filled direct message that contained multiple homophobic slurs.
“I don’t mind the chirps in my DMs but theres no room for homophobia or any other forms of hateful messages at any time,” Greer wrote.
Good on Greer for calling it out. While there’s a line of thought that athletes or other celebrities should just ignore social media messages like this, the reality is that ignoring it does nothing to actually stop homophobia, racism, sexism or any other forms of hate.
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