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seattle kraken alex wennberg booktok

Seattle Kraken BookTok Controversy

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Updated Aug 07, 2023 at 05:00PM EDT by Adam.

Added Aug 03, 2023 at 01:43PM EDT by Adam.

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Overview

Seattle Kraken BookTok Controversy refers to sexual harassment accusations levied at fans of romance novels on TikTok in mid-2023. They are accused of making sexual and predatory comments about players on the NHL's Seattle Kraken team, particularly forward Alex Wennberg, after hockey-themed romance novels became popularized on the app. Initially, the Kraken seemed to embrace the unusual attention their team was receiving, but after Wennberg's wife spoke out against it, they deleted videos engaging with "BookTok" (Book TikTok). This led some on the platform to complain that the team had pandered to them for clout, while one user, Kierra Lewis, has become the "face" of BookTok's backlash, as one of her comments was singled out by Wennberg's wife.

Background

Among book fans on TikTok (aka "BookTok"), a subgenre of romance novels centered around hockey players has become prominent in recent years. Around May 2023, the fandom discovered the NHL's Seattle Kraken, particularly because it found one of the team's players, Alex Wennberg, physically attractive, and some said they imagined the male heroes of the novels to be Wennberg[1] (TikTok by mini_maggs featuring Wennberg shown below).

@mini_maggs new crush thanks to #booktok #alexwennberg #seattlekraken #CapCut ♬ original sound – Mercy Mungai

At first, the Kraken embraced the unusual new fandom for the team and Wennberg. A deleted video posted by the team featured Wennberg walking in a suit, captioned about how it was posting for "BookTok" (screenshot shown below).


00:13 When you accidentally become a booktok account & now that's all you can post Speed

Developments

On July 27th, 2023, Alex Wennberg's wife Felicia took to her Instagram stories to say the thirst comments about her husband had crossed the line. She explained her point of view over several messages, at one point writing:

What doesn’t sit with me is when your desires come with sexual harassment, inappropriate comments and the fact that with the internet we can normalize behavior that would never be ok if we flipped the genders around to a guy doing this to a female athlete …I mean no hate on the booktook [sic] community just a little request for people to think twice about their comments/videos or chanting ‘krak my back’ at humans with feelings.


Find related content feliciaweerenwennberg 7h 314 comments 4-26 Reply Cami The score in all 3 of my holes took me out Search View 1 reply 306 X mecuty X Kierra Lewis. Creator Again, I genuinely dont care about the comments about my husbands looks, he is so beautiful Right? I dont like but at least I understand that people try to shoot their shot and DM him even if I myself Would not go for someone who is in a relationship. That is atleast somewhat of a normal behaviour when fancying someone. What doesn't sit with me is when your desires come with sexual harassment, inappropriate comments and the fact that with the internet we can normalize behavior that would never be ok if we flipped the genders around to a guy doing this to a female athlete. When we were expecting our son, I knew how important it was to raise him to treat people and especially women with respect if he were to identify as straight. And I would feel like a hypocrite if I didnt say anything about behavior that I would never be ok with if we raised a girl. I mean no hate on the booktook community just a little request for people to think twice about their comments/videos or chanting "krak my back" at humans with feelings. Night have a boon

The following day, Alex Wennberg echoed his wife's sentiments, stating that while he supported BookTok's interest in hockey, the comments about himself and his wife were too far[3] (shown below).


alexanderwennberg 16m of days, me and especially my wife, have been getting lots of criticism about speaking up on sexually harassment on Tik Tok. As someone who's been media trained my whole career I've been taught to bite my tongue and to leave it instead of making a statement. But it has gone too far for me to stay quiet when people post vile comments on my wife's instagram and on photos of our child. The reason my wife said something and not me is simply she does it better and more bravely than me. X alexanderwenter thehooktok community to write books and fiction about hockey but 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 regarding moving forward. We can all take a joke and funny comments but when it turns personal and into something bigger that affects our family we need to tell you that we have had enough. Enough of sexual harassment, and harassment of our character and our relationship. Thank you for understanding x

The Kraken then deleted its videos related to BookTok in the wake of the Wennbergs' statements.

BookTok's Response

Many BookTok users were not happy about the Wennbergs', and later the Kraken's, response to their fandom. In particular, Kierra Lewis arguably became the "face" of the controversy because Felicia Wennberg included her name in one of her screenshots, though Lewis' comment was censored.

Lewis posted several TikToks criticizing the Wennbergs and the Kraken, noting that the Kraken had encouraged her by giving her free tickets to games and gifting her a jersey with "BookTok" printed on it. Lewis also said she was now dealing with harassment because of Felicia Wennberg's post, and criticized her for overreacting to her "Krak my back" comment (a play on the team's name). These TikToks were compiled by Twitter user @duamaximoff on July 30th, 2023, gaining over 100 retweets and 2,500 likes in four days (shown below).


Felicia Wennberg later added to her previous statements by insisting she did not mean to single out Lewis but used one of her comments as an example of a broader trend of sexual comments her husband had seen on social media.[2]

On August 1st, hockey and romance author Emily Rath posted a 10-minute-long TikTok on the situation, claiming that aggressive and predatory hockey romance fans make up 1 percent of the fandom, while the other 99 percent don't go to such extremes. She also criticized the Kraken for perceivably objectifying Wennberg, saying that organizations should not treat their employees in the same abstract way his fans do. The video gained over 2,300 likes in two days.

@emilyrathbooks I’ve turned off the duet/stitch function and comments so this statement can simply be exactly as it is. I love my reader community and I love and respect the wonderful hockey community I’ve fostered with teams around the world. Let’s all treat others with respect and kindness ❤️ #emilyverse #emilyrathbooks #jacksonvillerays #jacksonvilleraysseries #puckingaround #sportsromance #hockeyromance #hockeytok ♬ original sound – Dr. Emily Rath | Author

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External References

[1] Daily Dot – What you need to know about the BookTok hockey drama taking over the internet

[2] Instagram – Felicia Wennberg Stories

[3] Reddit – /r/hockey

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