Kraken pull 'BookTok' videos after player, spouse speak of harassment

The Seattle Kraken appear to have put an end to a social media campaign after one of its players and his wife spoke out against behavior they deemed as sexual harassment.

Greg Wyshynski of ESPN reported that the team began to remove TikTok videos that were posted to the "BookTok" community after one of its players, forward Alex Wennberg and his wife Felicia, called out people who were making lewd and crass comments about Wennberg that went beyond the point of merely having a crush. There is a subset of the "BookTok" community that focuses on hockey romance novels, which the Kraken were trying to play into with the social media campaign.

After Felicia received backlash for a statement she posted on Instagram, Alex followed with words of his own.

"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 effects our family, we need to tell you that we've had enough. Enough of sexual harassment, and harassment of our character and our relationship. Thank you for your understanding."

Later in the article, Wyshynski spoke with a prominent author in the community about how both fans and the Kraken franchise itself approached the growing movement in TikTok. Emily Rath, who writes hockey romance books, said that of the full fandom that participated in this part of the social media platform, it was a small minority that made things uncomfortable for Wennberg and others. She also called out the team for how it engaged in the community, playing along with the objectification of Wennberg without fully understanding how some people will go too far.

"It was out of concern for Alex. Like, he's a public figure. But at what point are men in sports allowed to be able to stand up and say, 'I do not consent to this objectification?' Men are allowed to set boundaries as well," she said. "But it was also out of respect for my readers. They feel so gross. They feel so unwelcome. They feel judged. This could have been about joy and the positive impact of bringing more women into sports. Sexually objectifying your own employees is not the look. That was my take."

While connecting to the literary community isn't new to sports, how Seattle chose to reach out to "BookTok" raised important questions on how a team should approach the seedy parts of social media. Not engaging with fans who make vitriolic posts on social media is basic and sound strategy because it's no different than avoiding such people in-person. However, in an arena that may appear less threatening because it displays a different type of fandom, a team should still make the assumption that the worst elements are out there.