Barstool sports CEO Erika Nardini, an avid hockey fan, has been promoting the NWHL during its condensed bubble season in Lake Placid, N.Y. On a recent podcast Nardini interviewed Metropolitan Riveters players Kelly Babstock and Rebecca Russo. Reporters and supporters then raised concerns about Barstool promoting the league. That is when Riveters teammate Saroya Tinker, a Black defenseman from Oshawa, Ontario who attended Yale University and the fourth overall pick in the NWHL's draft - butted in.
Tinker called out Barstool on social media as an 'openly racist platform'.
"If you (Erika Nardini), recognize that your platform promotes white supremacy and only further divides the athletic community, then perhaps we should have a conversation. Pls keep your money." That triggered a rebuke from Barstool co-founder David Portnoy, better known to his followers as 'El Presidente', suggesting that Tinker 'should be in jail' for linking Barstool to white supremacy without a 'shred of evidence.'
So the NWHL is fast catching up going lock-step with the WNBA, where its existence will be based increasingly more on virtue signaling and social justice messages over the actual game play and entertainment.
But women's hockey now has its Bubba Wallace.
As reported on KACMEDIA January 17, Portnoy established a fund to help small businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic. His initial $500,000 contribution was matched by Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers - and as of January 28 the charity has raised $32 million to business owners.