Bobby Orr under fire as fans demand that he repudiates his endorsement to Trump

This is causing a lot of friction…

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Bobby Orr under fire as fans demand that he repudiates his endorsement to Trump
Zuma Press

Wednesday’s events at the Capitol building in Washington D.C. are literally unprecedented. Without getting into the entire story, hundreds of Donald Trump supporters stormed the building in what appeared to be an attempt to stop the results of October’s election from being certified. Now, at least five people are dead and President Trump is under real threat of being removed from office prior to Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20th.

This prompted many fans to look back at what legendary NHL defenseman Bobby Orr did months ago. He endorsed Trump back in October,  taking out a full-page ad of the New Hampshire Union Leader, where he called Trump “the kind of teammate I want.”

With what has transpired over the past months (not to mention what the President has done over the course of his life) and especially what took place at the Capitol on Wednesday, fans of the great player, including former NHLer Matt Fraser are demanding that  Orr repudiates his endorsement to Trump. This is how it was explained in the Hockey News, per Ken Campbell: 

“To suggest that Orr would ever endorse any of the ugliness that transpired in Washington would be ridiculous. But it’s not ridiculous to suggest that Orr and others who openly supported this man are on the wrong side of history today. More than 40 years after his retirement, Orr remains an icon in the game and a voice of hockey. And a lot of the people who still admire him likely supported Trump. Orr was part of the problem when he endorsed Trump, but now he can be part of the solution by coming out as openly and vociferously now to repudiate not only the violence caused in Trump’s name, but the man who encouraged it to happen.”


Trump’s tumultuous first term in office has been beset in recent months by high rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths, and now the events that occurred at the Capitol building. Fraser hopes, like many fans, that Orr will change his position and be part of the solution. 

“Republicans were speaking out against the President last night,” Fraser said, “and I thought, if their views can change, it made me wonder if a person like Bobby Orr was watching that and wondering to himself, ‘Is this the type of man I still want to endorse, because it was only two months ago that I did.’ ”

Campbell ends his article by pleading with Orr to change his position, hoping that he will be, once again, the player and teammate we all admire. 

“It’s time for Orr to step up and to speak out against Trump and his sycophants just as forcefully as he did two months ago. That’s the kind of teammate Mark Fraser and a lot of other people are looking for right now.”