The San Jose Sharks have apologized for displaying a message on the Jumbotron appearing to praise Immigration and Customs Enforcement throughout the team’s Hispanic heritage night.
“SJ SHARKS FANS LOVE ICE !! GET’EM BOYZ !” the message read throughout the first intermission of the team’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on the SAP Center in San Jose Saturday night.
The post immediately sparked outrage from those in attendance — many heard booing in response — because the Sharks were holding their ninth annual celebration of Hispanic heritage on what they call “Los Tiburones Night.”
In response to the backlash, the Sharks issued an apology later in the sport, saying the message was submitted by someone not in attendance and was “inadvertently displayed on the in-arena scoreboard.”
“In the course of the first intermission of tonight’s game, an offensively worded message which had been externally submitted was inadvertently displayed on the in-arena scoreboard,” the NHL team posted on X late Saturday night.
“Sharks Sports & Entertainment deeply regrets that this message, which doesn’t meet our organization’s values, was not detected during our standard review process. The Sharks organization sincerely apologizes for this oversight, and we’re actively working to find out the origin of the message.”
While the team apologized for displaying the message, some still found it unacceptable that it made it onto the Jumbotron.
“On Los Tiburones night too, sheesh. Tough look,” one user replied to the apology.
“Have higher standards for screening forward,” one other wrote.
“Anybody and everybody related to this message, from the highest down, must be fired yesterday! Go get em boyz!!” demanded one other.
Lifelong fan Jessica Clark said she and her friends were “appalled” by the message.
“They’re my favorite team — I even have tattoos — but this was something that ought to’ve been caught,” she told CNN.
San Jose went on to lose the sport to Pittsburgh, 3–0.
With Post wires.
