SEATTLE — The Seattle Kraken made national news this offseason for unlikely reasons.
Plublications like US Weekly and Rolling Stone have latched on to drama that's unfolded surrounding Kraken forward Alen Wennberg and BookTok - "a community of book-loving TikTok users whose hashtags have generated more than 162 billion views," according to The Cut.
Last season, the Kraken posted social media videos using #booktok that featured Wennberg and other players. It seemed, at the time, to be a fun way to attract new fans.
"The Seattle Kraken have shown as an organization that they're definitely on the forefront of utilizing technology and trends on social media to their benefit," says Erika Ayala of Locked on Kraken.
That attraction went a bit too far, though, resulting in some rather shocking and harassing content on TikTok. This prompted Wennberg’s wife, Felicia Wennberg, to share a series of Instagram Stories asking fans to stop posting sexualized content and comments about her husband.
"We like to appreciate certain people, and there's a way to do it that's appropriate ... (but) things went too far with the Wennbergs," Ayala adds.
Alex Wennberg himself released a statement last week: “I’m all for the booktok community to write books and fiction about hockey, but the aggressive language about real-life players is too much. It has turned into daily and weekly comments on our personal social media. This is not something we support or want our child to grow up with.
All we ask for is a little respect and common sense moving forward. We can all take a joke and funny comments, but when it turns personal and into something bigger that affects our family, we need to tell you that we’ve had enough.”
Per Greg Wyshynski of ESPN, "The Seattle Kraken have removed TikTok videos marketed to the hockey BookTok community after forward Alex Wennberg and his wife, Felicia, published statements that criticized the objectification of NHL players."
It's a reminder that professional athletes are real people with families, and they see and hear what it said about them and are affected by them as much as anyone else.
The Kraken will no doubt consider a different path for social engagement this season.