Flames coach Bill Peters resigns after being accused of using racial slur
Peters was also accused of punching and kicking players while he was coaching the Carolina Hurricanes.
Bill Peters resigned as the coach of the Calgary Flames on Friday, just days after he was accused of using a racial slur against a player a decade ago.
The general manager of the Flames, Brad Treliving, received and accepted a resignation letter from Peters Friday morning. “Effective immediately, Bill Peters is no longer a member of the Calgary Flames organization,” he said in a statement on the team’s Twitter account.
The player, Akim Aliu, who was born in Nigeria, said on Twitter Monday that when he was playing for a minor league team a decade ago, Peters, who is white, “dropped the N bomb several times toward me in the dressing room in my rookie year because he didn’t like my choice of music.”
Aliu said that he had “rebelled” against the coach for using the slur and that Peters had retaliated by advising executives to demote Aliu to a lower-level league.
Tuesday, the NHL said in a statement that the behavior Peters was accused of was “repugnant and unacceptable,” and Treliving said the team had opened an investigation into Aliu’s allegations.
In a letter to Treliving Wednesday, Peters apologized for using “offensive language.” He said that he knew his comments “have been the source of both anger and disappointment” and that he was taking responsibility for the things he had said.
“I was rightfully challenged about my use of language, and I immediately returned to the dressing room to apologize to the team,” Peters wrote. “I have regretted the incident since it happened, and I now also apologize to anyone negatively affected by my words.”
In a statement on Twitter Thursday, Aliu said he found the letter from Peters to be “misleading, insincere and concerning.”
Aliu’s accusations date to the 2009-10 season, when he played for a minor league affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks.
More allegations against Peters emerged Wednesday, when he was accused of punching and kicking players while he was coaching the Carolina Hurricanes, The Associated Press reported.
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