Devante Smith-Pelly Calls Blackhawks Fans' Racial Taunts 'Sad' and 'Disgusting'

Washington Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly called racial comments made by fans during Saturday night's game against the Chicago Blackhawks "sad" and "disgusting."

"We've talked about this before," Smith-Pelly told reporters. "It's happened in hockey before. It's happened to people we personally know. We've had the conversation. It's just a few ignorant people being idiots. That's it. ... [My father] just said it's a few idiots being ignorant."

Smith-Pelly, 25, got into an altercation with fans, who grabbed his stick and shouted "basketball, basketball, basketball!" at him, per ESPN. The fans were removed from Chicago's United Center.

"It's disgusting. It's sad that in 2018 we're still talking about the same thing, over and over," Smith-Pelly said. "It's sad that athletes like myself 30, 40 years ago were standing in the same spot saying the same thing. You'd think there'd be some sort of change or progression, but we're still working toward it, I guess, and we're going to keep working toward it."

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said the league supports the team's decision to remove the fans.

"The League fully supports the actions taken by the United Center and the Blackhawks to eject the offenders and would expect the same response to any similarly unacceptable behavior at any of our arenas," the statement said.