Racial abuse hurled at OHL star
Kitchener winger Smith target of slurs, threats before ban for outburst
KITCHENER, ONT.— Hockey fans saw Givani Smith flash his middle finger at the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds bench.
What they didn’t see were the racial slurs, threats and abuse that the Kitchener Rangers winger, who is Black, endured before and after the incident.
Video of Smith’s outburst went viral in hockey circles.
The footage showed him flipping the bird to Soo players just after the Rangers extended their playoff lives with an emotional 4-3 overtime victory against the Greyhounds in Game 6 of their OHL Western Conference final on April 29.
The 20-year-old Detroit Red Wings prospect was suspended for two games by the OHL for making “an inappropriate gesture” and had to watch the Rangers’ season end in double overtime from the press box Monday in the Soo.
The incident sparked a series of racially charged comments on social media. Some called the Toronto native a “coward” and a “douche bag” while others stooped lower. One man sent a photo of Smith to his personal Facebook account with “Hockey N-----” in the caption.
He also received a death threat.
“There were threats, physical threats after Game 6,” Rangers general manager Mike McKenzie said.
“Before we went up to the Soo there were racial things in his inbox on social media. It was pretty disgusting to see some of the stuff that he had to deal with.”
The Rangers needed a police escort from the Soo airport to their hotel and from the hotel to the Essar Centre for Game 7. Smith watched the affair from the press box with a security guard posted at the door.
“We took the step to provide security over and above what we would normally do for a game,” OHL commissioner David Branch said. “We wanted to make sure Givani was comfortable and certainly hopefully free from any challenge or issue.”
The abuse goes back to the regular season. After a game in Sarnia, one fan tried to get at Smith in the team’s dressing room.
“We had an incident during the regular season where a fan somehow got access to our tunnel,” McKenzie said. “It was a game where he (Smith) had been sent to the room early because he had a misconduct. The fan poked his head in and yelled a racial slur down the hall. I’m not going to repeat it but it wasn’t good.”
Attempts to connect with Smith were unsuccessful.
His agent, G.P. Daniele, said he noticed something was off during the Rangers’ second-round series against the Sarnia Sting.
That’s when the incident from earlier in the season in Sarnia came to light. When pushed more, Smith admitted that some things were also said by Sting players in the semis, according to his agent.
“He didn’t want to say anything,” Daniele said. “He didn’t want the added attention. He said he just wanted to win and go to a Memorial Cup.”