The National Hockey League (NHL) backtracked and assured that it would open its job fair to "anyone ages 18 and older." The event entitled Pathway to Hockey Summit, which will take place on February 2 during the 2023 All Star Festivities in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, aims to help "diverse job seekers who are pursuing careers in hockey" find a job.
However, going by the now-deleted post that the NHL posted on its LinkedIn profile, diversity was not guaranteed, as the event was only open to certain groups of people:
Participants must be 18 years of age or older, based in the U.S., and identify as female, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and/or a person with a disability. Veterans are also welcome and encouraged to attend.
NEW - @GovRonDeSantis spox issues statement condemning NHL for hosting summit where participants must .. “identify as female, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino ..”
“Discrimination of any sort is not welcome in the state of Florida,” says spox @BryanDGriffin
— MAHSA SAEIDI, ESQ.🕵🏼 مهسا (@MahsaWho) January 14, 2023
Ron DeSantis was not willing to allow this type of discrimination to take place. That's why, after seeing the post, DeSantis' press secretary, Bryan Griffin, assured in a press release that they would fight to avoid situations like that:
Discrimination of any sort is not welcome in the state of Florida, and we do not abide by the woke notion that discrimination should be overlooked if applied in a politically popular manner or against a politically unpopular demographic. We are fighting all discrimination in our schools and our workplaces, and we will fight it in publicly accessible places of meeting or activity,
NHL claims "the originial wording was not accurate"
Faced with criticism, the NHL decided to backtrack and now says that the event is open to "anyone ages 18 and older." Furthermore, in a statement made by a spokesperson for the organization to Fox News Digital, they justified themselves by claiming that the "original wording of the LinkedIn post associated with the event was not accurate."
The Pathway to Hockey Summit is an informational and networking event designed to encourage all individuals to consider a career in our game – and, in particular, alert those who might not be familiar with hockey to the opportunities it offers.
Along with this, a new post appeared on their LinkedIn profile. It no longer mentioned any limitations to access the event, beyond the permitted capacity, and assured that "the day will be filled with guest speakers and panelists, networking opportunities, and more!"
