Hockey Team's Apology for Jan. 6 Post Sparks Outrage

The Cincinnati Cyclones hockey team is facing backlash after apologizing for a video that some may have interpreted as a tacit endorsement of the January 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol.

The Cyclones, a member of the minor hockey league ECHL, shared the video on Tuesday in a since-deleted post to X, formerly Twitter. Forward Justin Vaive was shown on the ice soaked in red light while wearing a red jersey. The video was captioned: "We don't care, we paint the town red (on January 6)," an apparent reference to the Doja Cat song "Paint the Town Red."

Some X users reacted to the video by suggesting that it was in reference to the January 6 riot. The incident at the Capitol in 2021 was an attempt made by an angry mob to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's 2020 presidential election win, with many of those who participated repeating former President Donald Trump's false claims that the election was "stolen" from him.

A response to the Cyclones' message from Connor Moore , a social media coordinator of the WNBA team Chicago Sky, drew particular attention, with Moore writing: "Paint the town WHAT on WHEN?!?!"

By Wednesday, the Cyclones had deleted the video and posteda public apology and explanation to X. Newsweek reached out for comment to the Cyclones online on Thursday.

"Last night we shared a video of our red warm-up jerseys with lyrics to a trending song," the team wrote. "The tweet was meant to hype people up for our Throwback Night, where we will wear the retro inspired jerseys. Our Throwback Night is traditionally held on the first weekend of January. This night and these jerseys are in no way a political statement."

The apology quickly sparked a new controversy, with some reacting by chastising the hockey team for allegedly capitulating to "cancel culture."

"Stop issuing apologies for cancel culture," posted @Nati_Sports. "It's exhausting. And it's why it has the ~little~ power it does. The Clones posted about wearing red jerseys on Jan 6th...You people that spent time battling this need to get another job. It was harmless. Seek help."

"Lame that people seriously cannot scroll without brow beating people or organizations into apologies for doing nothing wrong...grow up people," X user @thebengalorian wrote. "And go CYCLONES!!"

"This is so pathetic that the Cyclones had to make a post saying this," posted @DatDudeBPS. "Quit playing the victim card and making everything political."

"Let's be real, they don't owe anyone an apology, this app just needs to stop being annoying lmao," @ashelai_ posted.

"Feel bad for admin but this is objectively hilarious," @GratefulKeg wrote while sharing a screen capture of the original Cyclones post and the apology.

"LOL losers bullied them into an apology for not considering January 6 a national date of remembrance," posted @asbraner.

At least one user seemingly expressed disappointment that the deleted Cyclones video was not meant as an endorsement of Trump.

"To [sic] bad it wasn't for President Trump," posted @kbbrewser. "That would've made me a huge Cyclones fan."