Family of Canadian Olympic curler receiving threats on social media
Canadian Olympic curler Marc Kennedy made international headlines on Friday after telling Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson to “f*** off” towards the end of their match.
Eriksson had accused Kennedy of cheating by touching the rock past the hog line, something that you’re not allowed to do in curling.
After the match, Kennedy revealed that he talked to Eriksson and tried to bury the hatchet.
“I have a ton of respect for Oskar Eriksson,” Kennedy said. “He’s one of the best players to ever play.”
However, that didn’t stop fans online from being angry about the whole ordeal.
Several Swedish fans believe that Kennedy did, in fact, cheat.
The World Curling Association disagreed when they released a statement about the situation following the match.
Of course, that didn’t dispel some fans from ratcheting the hate to a whole other level of inappropriateness.
On Saturday, an Instagram account belonging to the Kennedy family posted on their story that they’ve received threats following the curling ordeal.
(@the.canadian.kennedys/Instagram)
On their story, they revealed that one person online told them to “watch your kids there.”
That prompted the account to respond, saying, “When the online hate over a game reaches a new level. Do not threaten our children.”
Marc and his wife, Nicole, have two daughters, according to the account.
After the ordeal, Kennedy told CBC that he wished things played out a bit differently.
“It wasn’t great,” Kennedy said. “We’re looking forward to moving on from it. To be completely honest with you, I probably could have handled myself better in the moment.”
“My whole life, I’ve been a little bit like that if my integrity gets questioned. We’re human out there. There’s a lot of emotions.
“I know I’m a role model for Canadian curlers. If I apologize at all, it’s to the young curlers around the country that would have expected more from me in that moment.”
Kennedy is at his fourth Olympic Games. He previously won gold during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and he also helped Canada win bronze in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
During the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, Kennedy and Canada missed out on the podium, finishing fourth overall.
So far in these Olympics, Canada’s men’s curling squad is 3-1 in round robin play, tying them for second overall with Great Britain. Switzerland, who defeated Canada on Saturday, is the only unbeaten team in the tournament.