Former NHL player and current chair of the Hockey Diversity Alliance, Akim Aliu, responded to Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons after Simmons compared Aliu’s career with that of another black NHL player, Wayne Simmonds.
“No one wants to say this because of the politically correct police and all, but those who coached Akim Aliu must cringe every time they see him in a news report or a commercial talking about what’s wrong with hockey,” Simmons wrote in his column.
Shortly after the article was released, Aliu responded with a video on Twitter, addressing Simmons’ comments.
“People like Steve are what’s wrong with society [...]” Aliu said. “You have absolutely no clue, Steve, what I and my family have been through both physically and emotionally since I started playing hockey and the scars it has left. When I showed this to my dad, he literally broke out in tears.”
Aliu also asked Simmons if he truly believes there’s no racism in the league.
“The real question here is are you saying there’s no racism in the game with everything that’s gone on? What are you actually trying to do by comparing myself to Wayne, who is actually an incredible leader in this space and is promoting the same message as I? What coaches are you referring to? Guys like Bill Peters? Are you saying I didn’t get called a n— and get sent down to the East Coast [Hockey] League when I was actually leading my AHL team in scoring in my first professional season? Are you saying I wasn’t hazed in my rookie year in the OHL? Made to strip naked in a bathroom with five other men and afterwards got my teeth cross-checked out for not wanting to do it again and then subsequently get blackballed by all of Hockey Canada as I watch my stock drop? Are you saying I didn’t have a trainer walk into a team party with my jersey in blackface?”
Toronto Maple Leafs player Wayne Simmonds also responded to Simmons’ “asinine” column in a tweet.
Aliu has been vocal about racism in the league. In 2019, he alleged that Bill Peters, a former NHL coach, called him racial slurs when we has a part of the Rockford Ice Hogs in the AHL during the 2009-10 season.
