Dusty Imoo loses Maple Leafs job over Twitter activity

Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

Dusty Imoo loses job in Maple Leafs' organization over right-wing Twitter activity

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Larry Brown | Last updated 8/10/21

Dusty Imoo was hired by the Toronto Marlies, the franchise announced on Sunday. Two days later, the team’s parent organization, the Maple Leafs, announced that they were going back on the hire.

Here was the original Twitter announcement Sunday about Imoo being hired to serve as the Marlies’ goaltending coach.

The Toronto Marlies announced today the hiring of Dusty Imoo as the team’s Goaltending Coach.

Jon Elkin has been promoted within the organization into the role of Goaltender Evaluation and Development. pic.twitter.com/UEKDBRorm2

— Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) August 8, 2021

On Tuesday, the Leafs said they had made a “mistake” in hiring Imoo and that they didn’t thoroughly vet him.

pic.twitter.com/MxaIJq0gTx

— Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) August 10, 2021

So what happened? Imoo had some tweets he “liked” on Twitter that were typical of right-wing support. He expressed support of tweets questioning Mike Pence’s behavior on January 6; a tweet questioning the Olympics’ stance on trans women; a tweet supporting police; a tweet showing a fabricated quote about eugenics; and a tweet calling out LeBron James for a past anti-police tweet.

Imoo has since deleted his Twitter account. The 51-year-old Japanese-Canadian served as a minor league goalie during his playing career. He became well known for helping goalie Jack Campbell revive his career.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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