The Seattle Krakens prepare for a match. Photo via thehockeynews.com.
Over the past couple months, there has been a TikTok drama, between the “BookTok” community and the NHL team, Seattle Kraken. But, what is the connection between BookTok and Hockey, and why has this connection sparked a controversy?
Last year, the Seattle Kraken official TikTok account showed off its players with the #BookTok, and one of the earliest ones showed one of the players drinking water with the caption “what is book Tok and why does it like wenny so much?,” with “wenny” referring to Alex Wennberg, the tall and handsome Swedish forward who is 28 and happily married. As a result of this, the player became a sensation, and different users began making thirst traps, making him a visual representation of certain characters. In addition, the Kraken account fed this crowd by posting more videos of their players and changed their bio to ‘mostly book Tok’.
One of the fans that Kraken has been engaging with was a popular BookTok creator, Kierra Lewis. She has over a million followers and often posts content about her attraction to fictional sports characters, which often spill into reality. As a result, she had caught the attention of the Kraken after posting a video (now deleted) that went viral, and the team went as far as to pay her playoff tickets and sent her a jersey with the name “BookTok” on the back. She attended the game, holding a placard that read, “BookTok sent me #KrackMyBack.”
Things reached a head when the wife of Wennberg took to her Instagram, spoke out about her discomfort and also raised valid concerns about the sexual harassment that her husband and his teammates were receiving. She described the comments as “predatory and exploiting.” Later in the post, she said, “I feel that women who have experienced catcalling, getting filmed in exposed situations (like a groin stretch at their job) should hold themselves to a higher standard.” And a week later, Alex came out with his own statement, by saying that fans have crossed the line by leaving very disturbing comments on the picture of his wife and child.
In response to the post by Wennberg, the Kraken took down their BookTok post and unfollowed Lewis. Lewis did contact Felicia and offered to remove the films, including her husband, but she never heard back. Lewis could have used her platform to publicly apologize, but instead, she chose to go on the defensive and defend her behavior, which infuriated people even more. She also noted how the team management, which had first completely endorsed and even encouraged the behavior, had “switched sides” and how they had used BookTok for “clout.”
This whole situation, in general, has really shown how far-reaching the impact social media can have. As well as the topic of consent, when it comes to these types of things, as if it were a male fan and female athlete, the entire internet would have sparked an outrage and this should serve as a reminder that there are actual people behind our parasocial relationships.
