Panthers minority owner Doug Cifu suspended by NHL for social media posts

A top executive in the league is suffering consequences after comments made on social media.

On Monday night, the NHL announced it had suspended Florida Panthers vice chairman, partner, and alternate governor Douglas Cifu for making inappropriate comments made in the direction of Toronto Maple Leafs fans following the Panther’s 2-0 win on Sunday night.

The Toronto Sun was the first to report the news.

The remarks came from the X/Twitter account @Dougielarge, with Doug Cifu’s name on the account. Cifu responded to comments made by a Leafs fan regarding the controversial hits made in the latest game of the Atlantic Division Final, for some reason adding the conflict between Israel and Palestine into the thread.

“Eat s— 51st state anti-semite loser,” the account allegedly belonging to Cifu said. “Israel now and forever. Until [every] last Hamas rat is eliminated.”

Toronto sports fan Dr. Grizzo, with the X handle @mrgrozz, was the one Cifu was reportedly responding to. Dr. Grizzo responded, “Hey what’s worse, using headshots to win a series or using starvation as a weapon to win a war”

Cifu allegedly came back with, “Actually being a whiny dope anti-semite is clearly worse. Loser.”

After the back and forth, the account supposedly belonging to Cifu turned private before being deactivated. The bio for Cifu’s supposed account read, “Partner Cup Champ Florida Panthers and CEO of Virtu Financial (VIRT). Shill Team 6 Leader. All tweets mine.”

In a statement, the NHL said that Cifu has been suspended indefinitely from any and all involvement with the league and the Panthers.

“The NHL has concluded that Mr. Cifu’s X posts were unacceptable and inappropriate,” the statement read. “As a result, Mr. Cifu has been suspended indefinitely from any involvement with the Club and the NHL.”

The league said that an in-person meeting between Cifu and commissioner Gary Bettman will take place at a later date.