Peoria Rivermen release player for making homophobic statements on social media

The SPHL's Peoria Rivermen have released a statement saying that they have terminated their contract with 28 year old Louie Rowe after reviewing some of Rowe's public comments on social media.

In particular, Rowe's comments on Twitter toward the Kalamzoo Wings is what set off the Rivermen's radar.

The Wings tweeted out a rainbown pride version of their team logo, to which Rowe responded with: "I knew the Kwings were soft but I didn't know they were gay, trans and soft."

Kinda mild but, it's clear that he's trolling and looking to start a fight online. Pretty childish, if you ask me. However, a quick scan of Rowe's account reveals some pretty terrible content supposedly endorsed by the minor leaguer. There's COVID-19 denialism, bigoted comments on abortion and just some seriously vile opinions all over his account going back years. In other words, the guy is a whack job. Frankly, I'm not sure how it took so long for people to discover that this guy is unhinged.

"Our organization does not condone that language, nor do we support that point of view or behavior," Rivermen co-owner Bart Rogers said in a prepared statement. "Those things do not represent the beliefs of our team, our partners nor our fans, nor the great sport we play. It does not represent the values of our organization.

"We are shocked, and we have immediately released Louie Rowe."

It'll likely be no big loss for the Rivermen, as Rowe has played just four games for the team, putting up a single assist. The fact of the matter is that Rowe is a 28 year old who has a tough time getting playing time in the lower minor-leagues. He's not going anywhere in his hockey career even if he's squeaky clean in all other aspects of his life. As it is though, there's not a team out there who will take a chance on the guy. Too much baggage and not enough upside. Easy as pie to walk away from a guy like that.

For what it's worth, Rowe doesn't seem to feel any remorse for his actions, even after getting fired. He's defending his "rights" online and is doubling down on his clown world nonsense.