Brandon University Condemns Theo Fleury for Covid-19 Tweets

Despite Theo Fleury being an honorary doctorate recipient from Brandon University (BU), the school is making it clear they are not in support of his recent COVID-19 conspiracy theories he has been sharing on his personal Twitter account.

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The main Tweet that drew both the ire of BU and many others happened this past weekend where Fleury falsely linked vaccine passports to pedophilia. When he was called out on this by many other Twitter users, he was quick to respond with the fact that he had an honorary degree from BU.

It is important to note that an honorary degree is not an academic credential. It is instead given out to recognize an individual’s significant achievements and/or contributions. In this case, Fleury’s contribution was exposing many issues involved with junior hockey, and supporting others who have survived sexual abuse, something he went through himself during his teenage years. 

In their statement condemning the former superstar NHLer, BU did say that while they can understand him struggling to trust authority given what has happened to him in his early life, his recent comments go far beyond that.

To anyone who has followed Fleury on Twitter, this won’t come as much of a surprise. He is not shy to admit he is far-right in his political beliefs, and he has both posted and shared many COVID-19 denial comments and articles for quite some time now. 

It is very unfortunate to see how Fleury is viewed by many in recent years, given what a fantastic story he had become at one point and time. As mentioned, he has done fantastic work for those who have survived sexual assault in their lives and was able to overcome terrible circumstances in his youth and have a fantastic NHL career.

While many believe he should be, Fleury is not yet in the Hockey Hall of Fame despite recording 1088 career points in just 1084 games. If he continues to make comments like these that upset many, it is unlikely that he will get in at any point, which is quite unfortunate given the outstanding playing career he had. 

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