St. Louis Blues goalie Thomas Greiss made waves across the NHL last night when he refused to wear a pink Hockey Fights Cancer jersey during warm-ups. Citing his religious belief that cancer is just a sign of God’s disfavor, Greiss instead chose to stay in the dressing room praying for all the anti-cancer sinners.
In a postgame interview, Greiss claimed that he is not in favor of people dying of cancer. Instead, he insisted that anyone who dies of cancer has clearly been cursed by God, and he just doesn’t care about them.
“If God didn’t want you to have cancer then you wouldn’t,” he said. “So I just feel like trying to use doctors or treatments and stuff is kind of going against God. I can’t support that.”
In a statement released by the Blues, the team tried to distance themselves from Greiss’s comments:
“We respect the right of all of our players to voice their beliefs and opinions, as long as those statements do not upset our sponsors. While as an organization we do not necessarily agree with Greiss’s position, none of our corporate rainmakers have told us to force him to apologize.”
Fans are not happy
The decision did not sit well with all hockey fans. Many took to social media to label Greiss as an “asshole” and “tone deaf dickhead.” One fan went so far as to question the player’s empathy and humanity. “What kind of mutant isn’t against cancer,” the fan wrote. “If you can’t even wear a special jersey for warmups just to raise a little money for cancer research, there’s no way you actually have a soul.”
Others supported Greiss by pointing out that the Internet is littered with other people with horrific opinions. One user with the screen name NaziLuvr88 wrote “it’s nice to see an athlete say things that are objectively terrible, which is right in my wheelhouse!”
Clergy befuddled
When asked about Greiss’s belief that cancer is a sign that a person is cursed by God, Father Thomas Cole of St. Stephen Church was left speechless for a moment.
“That is quite possibly the stupidest interpretation of scripture I’ve ever heard”, Father Cole said. “And I’ve read the Da Vinci Code. What an asshole.”
One result of this incident that could be interpreted by a miracle from God, however, is this has made Jordan Binnington the more likable goalie on his team.
