Wayne Gretzky’s well-documented friendship with President Donald Trump has lost “The Great One” plenty of supporters in his native Canada, but someone took it a step further by crapping on his statue, if you will.
Gretzky and his wife, Janet, were at Trump’s November party at Mar-a-Lago to celebrate his victory over Kamala Harris in the presidential election. The Gretzkys also attended Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Wayne Gretzky’s friendship with President Trump has received further backlash in Canada due to the latter’s push for the Great White North to become the 51st state. Wayne hasn’t at all publicly commented on the ties with Trump, though Janet wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post that some of the criticism has left her husband heartbroken.
Someone took their distaste for No. 99 a step further by placing feces on the Wayne Gretzky statue at Rogers Place, the home of the Edmonton Oilers. The @yegwave X/Twitter account shared an image of the vandalized statue:
The bronze Gretzky statue stands 9-foot-2 in height and weighs 950 pounds. The statue was revealed in 1989, one year after Oilers owner Peter Pocklington controversially traded him to the Los Angeles Kings.
Gretzky spent his first nine NHL seasons with the Oilers, leading the franchise to four Stanley Cups while racking up 583 goals and 1,669 points in 696 games. He retired as the all-time leader in goals (894, though Alexander Ovechkin is on the cusp of breaking it) and points (2,857).
Wayne Gretzky Ruffled More Feathers At 4 Nations Face-Off Final
Gretzky didn’t wear any Canada-related merchandise (Team USA honorary captain Mike Eruzione wore an American jersey) and gave the U.S. bench a thumbs-up gesture without acknowledging the Canadians.
In contrast, Mario Lemieux received a thunderous ovation at the pre-game ceremony for the Canada-USA round robin game in Montreal five days earlier.
