The NHL has suspended Florida Panthers minority owner Doug Cifu from any involvement with the team or the league after a series of offensive social media posts Sunday night.
Cifu will have an in-person meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman at a later date.
The offending messages were from a back-and-forth with a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Panthers’ current playoff opponent, that veered into statements about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians as well as a reference to Canada becoming the 51st state. President Donald Trump has said in recent months that he wants to see Canada added to the United States as the 51st state.
Cifu is the vice chairman and alternate governor of Sunrise Sports & Entertainment, the Panthers, FLA Live Arena and SSE’s additional operating entities. He is the CEO of Virtu Financial, a financial technology services company co-founded by Florida owner Vincent Viola in 2008.
When asked for comment, the Panthers pointed to a statement Cifu provided to Florida Hockey Now on Tuesday:
“Two days ago, I posted regrettable and inflammatory comments on social media. My behavior does not reflect the standards of the Florida Panthers organization and the Viola family. I sincerely apologize to all those affected by my comments. I am committed to working with the NHL to amend my actions.”
The offending messages came in an exchange on X with a Maple Leafs supporter with the handle “Dr. Grizzo” on May 11, the night of the Panthers’ Game 4 victory to even their series with Toronto. The series has featured several high hits by Florida players on Leafs skaters as well as a collision between Florida center Sam Bennett and Toronto goalie Anthony Stolarz’s head that contributed to Stolarz leaving their series in Game 1.
Dr. Grizzo wrote, “Hey, what’s worse, using headshots to win a series or using starvation as a weapon to win a war?”
On X, Cifu’s feed contained messages of support for Israel and had five Israeli flags in his bio, along with the statement “all tweets mine.”
Cifu responded to that message with, “Actually being a whiny dope anti-semite is clearly worse. Loser.”
Dr. Grizzo responded: “Not approving of using starvation as a weapon makes me a bigot?” before adding comments about Cifu’s stock market prowess and political leanings.
That promoted Cifu to write, “Eat s— 51st state anti-semite loser. Israel now and forever. Until ever last Hamas rat is eliminated.”
The next day, Cifu made his X account private before deactivating his feed.
The NHL was made aware of the messages and suspended Cifu.
“The NHL has concluded that Mr. Cifu’s X posts were unacceptable and inappropriate,” the league said in a statement. “As a result, Mr. Cifu has been suspended indefinitely from any involvement with the Club and the NHL. An in-person meeting will be scheduled with Mr. Cifu and the Commissioner at a date to be determined.”
The Panthers are the defending Stanley Cup champions and are tied 2-2 in their second-round series with Toronto. After that 2024 title, Cifu’s name is on the Stanley Cup.
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