Janssen embarrassment a call for NHL change

Luke Fox

July 13, 2012, 9:19 PM

Alerted by the stir it caused on Twitter Thursday night, Patrick Burke watched the appalling, expletive-filled interview enforcer Cam Janssen gave on a radio show and dialed up the New Jersey Devils.

By 9 a.m. Friday morning, Burke, founding partner of You Can Play — a project dedicated to creating a better environment for gay and lesbian athletes — received a phone call from Janssen.

“I had an excellent conversation with him. He was very upset about the entire thing. He was very contrite. I thought he was incredibly sincere. He talked a lot about his feeling on these issues, about gay teammates, he talked about gay friends, that type of thing. He said he got sucked in to the off-colour tone of the interview and was trying to play along and make the interviewers happy. He said he immediately regretted it. He got in his car afterward and immediately felt like, ‘Oh, that was dumb,’” Burke explained.

“I talked to him a lot about You Can Play. He was aware of us beforehand, but I wanted to speak with him about what we stand for and why we stand for it. And he listened and I hope can learn. At the end of it I was happy with his response. I don’t think anything he said was appropriate or acceptable. A lot of people on Twitter are calling for his head, and I don’t agree with that. I think athletes should be given a chance to respond to the mistakes they make and we should judge them based on their response.”

In Tuesday’s lengthy and frequently vulgar interview on the Thom and Jeff Show, formerly on 105.7 The Point in St. Louis but now running uncensored on the web, Janssen and the program’s hosts used homophobic words to discuss how the enforcer would deal with a gay player. And then they all had a good laugh.

“I found the interview as a whole to be embarrassing for Cam, embarrassing for those hosts, and embarrassing for our league,” Burke says. “It’s unfortunate that Cam did the interview. It’s unfortunate that the hosts were so willing to bait Cam and that he took the bait.”

While Burke will not defend Janssen’s words, he did take to Twitter Friday morning to defend Janssen. Shortly thereafter, Janssen mentioned You Can Play in an apology statement released on the Devils’ website.

People unwilling to give Cam a chance to learn from his mistakes are doing no more to support You Can Play than he did in his interview.

— Patrick Burke (@BurkieYCP) July 13, 2012

“Cam took the time to call me back again and say that he saw I was taking a little heat for defending his response, and said anything we need, anytime, anywhere, he wants to help. He wants to become an ally. He wants to let people know that the interview was an aberration and not who he is as a person and what he stands for. So we’ll be happy to do stuff with Cam going forward, and I think he’ll be happy to participate,” Burke said.

Burke, also a scout with the Philadelphia Flyers and son of Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke, devotes his time to eliminating the homophobic thinking that festers in some hockey locker rooms, even at the game’s highest level. The effort stems from conversations Patrick had with his late brother Brendan, who was openly gay.

While Janssen’s interview (and the approval his homophobic remarks gained from clusters on anonymous message-board posters) brings to light the insensitivity of some players’ words and thoughts, Burke says that You Can Play is making huge strides.

Burke and representatives of YCP spread their objective with various collegiate hockey teams across the United States this year.

“Several of those teams, after we showed up, they called and told us that they banned the use of gay slurs in their locker room,” Burke explains. “Early on in the project we were calling (NHL) players to get involved. Now I get NHL players calling up and saying, ‘Hey, how come I wasn’t asked to be in this? How do I get involved?’ So we’re seeing this culture shift, and it’s shifting rapidly.”

Between his calls with the media about the Janssen interview, Burke was talking with two NHL teams about hosting YCP nights next season, where the team reaches out to its local LGBT community and straight allies to raise funds, hold speaking engagements and record new PSAs with their players.

To those who believe that homophobic trash talk is too ingrained in hockey’s fabric to scrub out, Burke calls laziness.

“That is how hockey players talk — and that’s why we launched,” Burke says. “And saying, when this stuff comes up publicly, ‘Well, that’s just how the locker room is,’ without acknowledging that it’s a problem, is offensive. Are there hockey players and other athletes out there who talk like this? Yes, there are. Otherwise, You Can Play could shut down tomorrow because there wouldn’t be an issue anymore.

“But taking the status quo as what’s acceptable is lazy,” he continues. “This is the hockey culture in a lot of locker rooms right now, and that culture is unacceptable for our society, and we need to change.”

Ironically, that change, Burke believes, can be propelled by a shameful, ignorant incident.

“We’re happy with Cam’s response so far, and we’re putting our trust in him that if we give him this second chance, he’ll learn from it,” Burke says. “That’s consistent with what You Can Play stands for: We’re more about education and reaching out to athletes than we are about pitchforks and torches and getting our range out there.”