Seravalli: Hockey Diversity Alliance’s new #TapeOutHate campaign sticks with you

Content Warning: Explicit and potentially triggering racial language is used in this story.

More than a decade on, there is one word, one notion that still gnaws at this reporter from a question asked of now-Toronto Maple Leafs forward Wayne Simmonds.

We were standing in the London Knights’ dressing room in Budweiser Gardens on Sept. 21, 2011 after an NHL preseason game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Detroit Red Wings.

Minutes earlier, Simmonds was skating in alone on a shootout attempt, a fan – later identified as 26-year-old Christopher Moorhouse – launched a banana peel onto the ice from the upper deck towards Simmonds in obvious, aggressively racist behavior. It was the second banana peel thrown at Simmonds that game; the other was lobbed late in the third period when Simmonds scored a goal, but never made it over the glass.

Simmonds was understandably distraught when approached after the game, but it’s what he calmly said – with just the shake of his head – that stands out.

“When you’re a black man playing in a predominantly white man’s sport, you’ve got to come to expect things like that,” Simmonds told me that night.

Expect. Think about that.

That notion sticks to you, well, like hockey tape to a blade.

And that sad and unthinkable expectation, which has not diminished in the more than 10 years since that London incident, is the reason why the Hockey Diversity Alliance’s new #TapeOutHate campaign hits so hard. The campaign, which includes a 2:30 video (below), was launched on Saturday.

Simmonds and his fellow Hockey Diversity Alliance board members, including Matt Dumba, Nazem Kadri, Anthony Duclair and Akim Aliu, teamed up with Budweiser Canada for a raw and jarring look into the hateful messages they still receive via social media because of the color of their skin.

The video also introduced new hockey stick tape, produced in conjunction with Budweiser, that says “RACISM HAS NO PLACE IN HOCKEY.” The tape is now available for sale in Canada online and soon in Canadian Tire stores; it is not available in the United States, but could be in the future. Critically, one dollar from the sale of every roll of tape will go to the Hockey Diversity Alliance’s programming.

The Hockey Diversity Alliance is hopeful its story will transcend the sport.

Censored and uncensored versions of the short video were produced. Either way, the racist slurs and taunts that were recently delivered to the player’s inboxes were authentic and real.

The words themselves are painful, of course, but to the players – the purpose isn’t to seek pity. They want to raise awareness, yes. But it is also a call to action for hockey’s overwhelmingly white base to not just speak up, but actively participate with something as simple as sending a message by using the tape – or sharing the video on social media.

“We’re only so many within this game,” Simmonds says in the video. “We need other people to speak up for us. Silence is not an option.”

And yes, the Hockey Diversity Alliance’s players are expecting – there’s that word again – backlash and more racist behavior from fans in response to the campaign.

“At the end of the day, we’re still the ones who feel the brunt,” HDA co-founder and chair Aliu told Daily Faceoff. “So Budweiser said, well, we have a solution for that.”

Budweiser Canada worked with the HDA to create bots that will automatically respond to people on social media who reply to or post about the campaign with racial or abusive language.

“You know, I’ve heard the ‘n-word’ or ‘Go back to Africa’ so many times, it’s just in one ear, out the other,” Aliu said. “What hurts the most is people saying I’m trying to ruin the game. People don’t understand what we’re trying to do to grow the game. When the video goes to the upbeat music for the positive last minute, I just think about what’s coming next, the next generation that we’re trying to help.”

The HDA was formed on June 8, 2020 by a group of the NHL’s prominent minority players to eradicate racism in hockey. They got together on July 28 in Toronto to shoot the #TapeOutCampaign after walking away from two previous potential partners that maybe sought something more “watered down,” according to Aliu.

The interest, support and backing that the HDA received from Budweiser Canada was tried and true, standing the test of the country’s best-selling beer and their corporate partner relationship with the NHL.

The HDA announced on Oct. 6, 2020 that the group would “operate independent of the NHL” because they said the league “isn’t prepared to make measurable commitments to end racism in hockey.”

Budweiser Canada senior director Mike D’Agostini said the company made the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association aware of the campaign more than a year ago, kept them up to date, and gave them “every opportunity to be involved” in the project.

“They ultimately chose not to, we respect their decision,” D’Agostini said. “We were told from both organizations that they both have their own [diversity and inclusion] efforts.”

The project originally called for all of the players involved to be wearing their NHL team’s jersey and for game footage to be spliced into the commercial. The NHL did not allow their images and marks to be used in the campaign, according to Aliu.

However, the NHL said in a statement to the Associated Press that it applauds the HDA’s campaign: “We welcome all who are using their voices and platforms to pursue these important goals and remain determined to continue to use ours and to do the work necessary to create real change.”

It’s just that they’re going to continue to tackle their goals independently, a frost that clearly won’t be thawing any time soon.

“They were told ‘We’re not on working terms with the HDA’,” Aliu said. “It’s one thing to not support the small number of players of color in the league, it’s another thing to actually double down on it.”

And to be fair, it hasn’t all gone smoothly for the HDA. One of the group’s co-founders, Evander Kane, was suspended for 21 games by the NHL for presenting a fake vaccination card, after he was investigated for separate allegations of gambling and domestic abuse last summer.

Aliu said Kane has not been involved with the HDA since stepping down from the board in August to deal with his personal issues.

“I support Evander in cleaning up his personal issues. I know he’s made some mistakes, but I’m never going to be the guy that kicks a guy to the curb,” Aliu said. “I’m hoping he gets everything straightened out on his end. Our door is always open. He’s played a huge part in founding the group, we wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for him.”

Despite the lack of NHL and NHLPA support, Budweiser Canada pushed on with the HDA to make this all come to fruition.

“They’ve stood by our side,” Aliu said.

“We felt the need for us to use our platform, because hockey needs to change,” said D’Agostini, the senior director of Budweiser Canada. “There are important and devastating realities in the game of hockey. Throughout this journey, the realness of stories from the HDA players, it really made me uncomfortable. I think that’s the point. Wayne Simmonds sitting around questioning the game for his own child? I’m a new father. This is a player at the pinnacle of the game and he has questions.

“We wanted the true, authentic story. We wanted to get it right. We believe this is the right time, the right product. Hockey tape is a tool across every spectrum in the game, from youth hockey to pro to beer league. We’re hopping it can spark positive conversation.”

D’Agostini said this video’s jarring language is “going to be uncomfortable for a lot of people.”

“That’s the point of the campaign,” Simmonds told Daily Faceoff on Friday.

Those words may roll off the HDA’s players – like “just another Wednesday,” as Aliu described, something they’ve somehow “normalized in their minds.” But that isn’t the way it should be.

That isn’t what should be expected.

“Before, I used to ignore it, try to forget about it, use it to fuel me to be a better player,” Simmonds said. “Ten years later, it’s not surprising to me that’s still the way it is. We want to continue to have the conversation so it isn’t.”