ESPN’s Molly Qerim Implies That Hockey Players Are Allowed To Fight Because They Are White: “Just A Little Hypocrisy”

Does the “E” in ESPN stand for eye roll?

It wasn’t too long ago that the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” simply refused to get involved in any sort of controversy or politics whatsoever. Nowadays, the interweaving of sports and political commentary on ESPN is seemingly welcomed, and earlier today, there was something uttered on First Take that has started to make headlines.

The flagship ESPN debate show was diving into the 4 Nations Face-Off that’s set to conclude with tomorrow’s championship game between USA and Canada. Hockey fans – and those who are just proud to be an America – are looking forward to the matchup that should feature a lot of heart, grit… and fist fighting.

USA and Canada wasted no time getting to the fighting when they played their first game against one another in the round robin tournament. There were three separate fights in the first 9 seconds of the contest.

When it came time for the two teams to play one another last Saturday, Matthew and his brother Brady Tkachuk (along with veteran forward JT Miller) dropped gloves as soon as the game started, and it was quite possibly the best thing that’s ever happened in sports. There might be some recency bias in play there, but it certainly felt that way in the moment.

It’s honestly how I wish every hockey game would get started:

MATTHEW TKACHUK AND BRANDON HAGEL DROP THE GLOVES OFF THE BAT pic.twitter.com/NlBt1UcHRf

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 16, 2025

Who doesn’t love that, eh?

I’ll tell you who… ESPN’s Molly Qerim. She’s hosted and moderated First Take for almost a decade, and when the show’s topic turned to hockey this morning (specifically the fighting), she jumped into the conversation with this thought:

“It’s just interesting to me that certain sports, you’re allowed to fight. And other sports, it could never happen.”

Now she didn’t come out and directly point fingers, but there is an implication that she feels its unfair for white hockey players to get a pass for fighting, but the same isn’t extended to players in the NBA or NFL  – which have the highest percentages of black players of all four professional sports leagues.

After her comments were largely ignored by Christopher Russo and Stephen A. Smith, Molly chimed in once more, just before Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo continued on with his rant against the fights that occurred during the 4 Nations tournament:

“Optics! Just a little hypocrisy.”

Molly Qerim on the fights in the USA vs. Canada 4 Nations Face-Off matchup: "It's just interesting to me that certain sports, you're allowed to fight. And other sports, it could never happen. Optics!" pic.twitter.com/JILF6IscpG

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 19, 2025

As you might imagine, Molly’s comments have gotten the sports world talking.

Which to be clear, it might just come down to… the rules of each respective league. Some professional sports organizations, like the NHL, allow fighting because they feel it it provides some player accountability and also provides entertainment value.

As for the National Basketball Association, here’s how their official rule against fighting reads:

“Violent acts of any nature on the court will not be tolerated. Players involved in altercations will be ejected, fined and/or suspended. There is absolutely no justification for fighting in an NBA game. The fact that you may feel provoked by another player is not an acceptable excuse. If a player takes it upon himself to retaliate, he can expect to be subject to appropriate penalties.”

And just so there’s no confusion, here’s how the NHL rule reads, and I went ahead and shortened it up a bit and translated it to more layman’s terms:

“Fighting is allowed and it’s awesome (and results in a five minute major penalty).”

See? Hockey allows fighting, but not without a penalty. Sounds to me like each time a player drops their gloves, there’s a real opportunity for a learning experience.

Fighting is a part of hockey’s tradition. You’d be hard pressed to find fans of the sport that didn’t like what went down in the very beginning of the USA-Canada game last weekend (and what could very well happen again in the championship of the 4 Nations Face-Off). Truth is, fighting in the NHL has declined over the years, but it largely keeps game from getting out of hand when tensions are running hot. Rather than players getting heated, getting reckless, throwing cheap shots, and players winding up hurt, two big boys drop the gloves and ease the tension.

And while it may seem like guys are chuckin’ knucks to the death (they are), there’s a serious amount of sportsmanship that comes with a good heavyweight brawl. Handshakes or taps, a polite “good fight, bud,” it’s a gentlemen’s duel… if you will.

Exhibit A:

Hockey players are hilarious. Sometimes the game demands you punch the crap out of your opponent for 30 seconds.

Then it's a head tap, a "good fight," and we all move on.

Heck of a respectful round between Englund and Watson pic.twitter.com/71a3HBJKQb

— Richie Cozzolino (@RichieCozz) January 15, 2023

Sometimes, it’s just to put on a show for the fans and put a little energy into the game:

and the the other player will say ‘i appreciate him giving me one there’ in reference to getting punched pic.twitter.com/zvfqhlBqlQ

— din (@klooowry) January 8, 2025

As for the NBA, there’s one moment in its history that really caused the league to tighten up their physicality.

Remember the “Malice in the Palace?”

The 2004 Pacers-Pistons brawl, known as "The Malice at the Palace", which resulted in nine player suspensions, $11 million in salary loss and five fans charged with assault. pic.twitter.com/LdRexTv42v

— Fascinating (@fasc1nate) January 16, 2025