A German-born NHL goalie was forced to apologize after he “liked” several social media posts that compared Hillary Clinton to Adolph Hitler.
“I apologize for interacting with several posts that appeared in my timeline, which were wrong to engage with,” New York Islanders Thomas Greiss said in a statement issued by the team, according to Sporting News.
“‘Liking’ these posts was a mistake, and I sincerely apologize again.”
In the same statement, the Islanders commented, “(We) do not condone the actions of Thomas Greiss on social media and are addressing the situation internally. And Thomas regrets his actions and recognizes that he made a mistake.”
Greiss allegedly “liked” several Instagram posts that were critical of Clinton.
“Never arrested. Never convicted. Just as innocent as Hillary,” one meme read.
“Guns don’t kill people. Clintons do,” another read.
Another meme featured Trump as a gladiator holding up the severed head of a Medusa-like figure with Hillary’s face.
Team Germany executives also frowned on Greiss’s free speech statements.
“All athletes have an important role model in the public arena,” German Olympic Sports Confederation president Alfons Hörmann told German news agency SID, according to Puck Duddy.
“Political extremism has nothing to do with sport. We will continue to emphasize the special importance of the values of sport for the Olympics — our team in Germany — Zero tolerance. Therefore, maintaining this communication would be a clear exclusion criterion for this or other player.”
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