NHL player caught shouting homophobic slur during Olympics match

National Hockey League (NHL) player Radko Gudas was caught shouting a homophobic slur during a Winter Olympics match.

Gudas, who plays club hockey in the NHL for the Anaheim Ducks, was one of the players involved with Canada’s captain Sidney Crosby getting injured, and shouted a homophobic slur during Wednesday’s quarterfinal match.

Footage shared across social media shows Gudas using a gay slur late in the second period after incurring a penalty. Gudas also made a hit on Crosby that forced him off of the ice. The hits Crosby took during the game led to him to hobble away injured. 

However, Canada still managed to cling to victory, defeating Czechia 4-3 in overtime. 

As part of his rant, sparked in protest over a two-minute penalty for roughing against Brandon Hagel, Gudas can be heard saying, “Get off your f****** knees, you f****** c*** sucker!” 

The slur seemed to be directed at the referee, Sweden’s Mikael Holm, but could have been directed at someone out of shot. 

On Reddit, a fan of Crosby’s wrote: “Injured an Olympic legend after a dirty play, got one penalty when he deserved four, and yelled a homophobic slur at the ref.” 

Gudas did apologise for the clash in an interview following the game though did not reference the slur, telling Idnes.cz: “I tried to play hard, like everyone else. It was like a playoff, like Game 7. I hope Sid is OK. 

“You never want to see someone get hurt. Especially in games like that at big tournaments.”

On Friday (20 February), Canada coach Jon Cooper said he was still deciding whether Crosby would be fit to play in Sunday’s Olympic final. However, Crosby’s lower-body injury meant he was forced to watch Canada’s 2-1 overtime loss to the United States from the trainers’ room.

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