Dear Wayne Simmonds:

I am sorry.  You, or any other player of race, do not deserve the treatment you received on Thursday with a banana peel being thrown on the ice while attempting a shootout.  The game was in London, Ontario between the Red Wings and the Philadelphia Flyers and the person who committed this act was not captured.

The NHL, the Philadelphia Flyers and the mayor of London all dispelled whoever it was who did this and no one knows where the person who did this came from, or which team they were rooting for.  Either way, my only hope is that the fan was not from Detroit or rooting for the Wings.

To throw a banana peel on the ice is something that was premeditated and planned out, which may be the worst part of the all.  I can’t imagine a lot of bananas are being used at the ice rink in London, so the person must have brought it in with them to use this sign of disrespect and racism.

Again Wayne, Wings fans and fans of hockey in general are all sorry for what happened.  You should not be seen as a black man playing hockey, just a man.  And the fact that some person decided to put your safety at risk to remind you that you are a minority on the ice is just pure ignorance on their part.  You deserve better than how you were treated and hopefully whoever decided to do this has learned something from their actions.

Sincerely,

Robert Stone (and humans everywhere)