The Arizona Coyotes Have Renounced The Rights To Draft Pick Mitchell Miller After He Was Outed As A Bully And A Racist

The Arizona Coyotes have decided not to take on the burden of draft pick Mitchell Miller, after all. This news comes comes three days after an article by The Arizona Republic outed Miller for bullying and harassing a black student with developmental disabilities in junior high school.

That students name was Isaiah Meyer-Crothers. Here’s what he had to say about being bullied by Mitchell Miller.

“He pretended to be my friend and made me do things I didn’t want to do,” Meyer-Crothers said via the Arizona Republic. “In junior high, I got beat up by him. … Everyone thinks he’s so cool that he gets to go to the NHL, but I don’t see how someone can be cool when you pick on someone and bully someone your entire life.”


Related


According to the story, Miller would used the ‘N word’ when talking to Meyer-Crothers. He also did some pretty brutal things. Of which included rubbing a push pop on a urinal and making him eat it.

The Arizona Coyotes originally stated that they were aware of the allegations, and were prepared to work with Mitchell Miller on being better. Now, they have changed course. Here’s the team’s statement from today.

“We have decided to renounce the rights to Mitchell Miller, effective immediately,” said Gutierrez in a statement. “Prior to selecting Mitchell in the NHL Draft, we were aware that a bullying incident took place in 2016. We do not condone this type of behaviour but embraced this as a teachable moment to work with Mitchell to make him accountable for his actions and provide him with an opportunity to be a leader on anti-bullying and anti-racism efforts. We have learned more about the entire matter, and more importantly, the impact it has had on Isaiah and the Meyer-Crothers family. What we learned does not align with the core values and vision for our organization and leads to our decision to renounce our draft rights, ” the statement said.

“On behalf of the Arizona Coyotes ownership and our entire organization, I would like to apologize to Isaiah and the Meyer-Crothers family. We are building a model franchise on and off the ice and will do the right thing for Isaiah and the Meyer-Crothers family, our fans and our partners. Mr. Miller is now a free agent and can pursue his dream of becoming an NHL player elsewhere.”

Mitchell Miller is currently a member of the North Dakota Fighting Hawks. We’ll see if another team wants to take a chance on the troubled young man.


Welcome to the game outside the game! Follow us on our Sideaction Twitter handle, Instagram, and Facebook for the latest on sports and pop culture news across the web!

More from Side Action

More News & Stories