Golden Knights’ Whitecloud Addresses ESPN Anchor’s Insensitive Joke

ESPN’s John Anderson came under fire Monday night after making an insensitive joke about Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud while calling highlights of Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Oilers and Vegas.

On Tuesday, Whitecloud addressed the media, revealing that he’s since had a conversation with Anderson and accepted the apology from the ESPN analyst, via SinBin Vegas. During his media session, Whitecloud reportedly broke into tears. 

“I don’t want to be standing here in front of all of you, but I hope we can use it an opportunity for everyone to learn,” he said to reporters. 

During a SportsCenter show on Monday night, Anderson could be heard making an insensitive comment about Whitecloud’s last name. 

“What kind of name is Whitecloud? Great name if you’re a toilet paper,” Anderson said on air.

Whitecloud is the first Indigenous NHL player from the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, a community of just more than 1,000 people in Manitoba, Canada, and takes significant pride in his heritage. 

“I truly feel like [I and other First Nations players] represent everyone in North America, from an Indigenous standpoint,” Whitecloud said, via the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2020. “I feel we have a responsibility to use our platform to help our people push forward, to help them realize there is hope out there.

Anderson later apologized to Whitecloud and said he hoped to speak with the 26-year-old about the on-air remark.

Whitecloud featured in 59 games this season during the regular season, registering 12 points, including five goals. During the postseason, he’s registered three points in eight appearances and scored his first goal of the playoffs in Monday’s win.