No Punishment For Flyers' Simmonds' Homophobic Slur

(NewsCore) - The NHL said Tuesday night said it would not be punishing Philadelphia Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds for allegedly directing a homophobic slur at New York Rangers forward Sean Avery, citing a lack of conclusive evidence, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Simmonds met with NHL officials after appearing to yell the slur at Avery during Monday night's preseason game. The maximum fine he could have received was $2,500, an NHL official said.

Avery, who has earned the reputation of being one of the NHL's biggest instigators over his 10 seasons, claimed Simmonds called him a "" following a scrum in which he punched Simmonds.

Simmonds, however, strongly denied using the term, according to The Inquirer.

"I'm getting press for things I wouldn't like to get it for," Simmonds said after Flyers practice Tuesday. "I'd rather see myself getting press for my play, instead it's other things."

When asked about what was discussed during his meeting with NHL vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell, Simmonds said, "He asked me if I called [Avery] a gay slur and I said no.

"I said a lot of other things, but that wasn't one of them. There a lot of things I said to him and obviously I'm not going to repeat them, but I didn't say that to him."

Last October, then-Islanders defenseman James Wisniewski was suspended for two games after making obscene, sexually-suggestive gestures toward Avery.

"It's been said [to me] for years, but it's different now," said Avery, who played a prominent public role in New York's adoption of a same-sex marriage law in June.

"It certainly is an issue politically, for people in the game and in life in general, and it's an issue people are working to overcome. It's really disappointing. Who would [say] that?"

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) called for immediate action to be taken against Simmonds. According to NHL rules, Simmonds could face a fine up to $2,500 for such an offense.

Simmonds, who is black, was the subject of an ugly incident last week at an exhibition game in Canada, where a fan threw a banana onto the ice while he attempted a shot in a shootout.

In April, Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 for calling a referee a " " after he was assessed a technical foul.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inqflyersreport/Simmonds-denies-using-gay-slur.html