Outrage over Barstool Sports’ Ryan Whitney’s ‘gross’ and ‘tasteless’ X post about Bruins’ win against Maple Leafs

Former NHL star Ryan Whitney has found himself embroiled in a social media firestorm following a post about the NHL playoffs that fans labeled “gross” and “poor taste.”

Whitney – who now works for Barstool Sports – posted an AI-generated photo of two bears on the ice, with one – wearing a Bruins jersey – performing a sex act on the other, who is crying and dressed in the colors of Maple Leafs.

‘Leafs fans, I sympathize with you. This isn’t right, Whitney wrote next to the messageto almost half a million followers.

Boston defeated Toronto 3-1 on Saturday to take a 3-1 lead heading into Game 5 of the NHL playoffs.

Whitney played for the Penguins, Ducks and Oilers during his NHL career after being drafted fifth overall by Pittsburgh in 2002.

Since his retirement, he has worked as an analyst at NHL Network and currently co-hosts Barstool’s hockey podcast, Spittin’ Chiclets.

He posted the AI ​​photo the day after the Bruins’ Game Four win. Nearly 48 hours later, it is still up on the social media site and has been viewed more than 11 million times.

That’s despite the Barstool Sports podcaster facing a vicious backlash from fellow NHL supporters, many of whom urged him to remove the podcast.

“This is disgusting,” one person wrote. ‘Consider removing this. Disrespectful and in bad taste,” another added. “You’re getting fired,” a third X user warned.

Some fans defended Whitney’s sense of humor, but many more criticized him for the image.

“This is not a cool guy. We need to take it down,” one X user wrote, while another insisted: “Sexual violence is not a joke. It’s never a joke. Not now, not ever. Take it away and do better.”

Whitney (middle) has been urged by many social media users to delete the post