[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Housley4Prez

Here's an example of how it could've gotten way out of hand quickly...

First of all, the fact that it could have been worse does not in ANY WAY absolve Peters for his gross misbehaviour in this situation. It is not even worth considering.

...In a moment of extreme frustration, Peters lashes out against the music, pointing out his issue with the lyrics. He does it in an incredibly insensitive way, but he does it.

It could very well be that Peters saw what he was saying as an attack on the music itself.

But to Aliu, when he heard "turn off that n----- music" he took it as "turn off that music, n-----"... which left him in shock. Rightfully so.

Oblivious, Peters could have feasibly seen this as his way of showing how offensive the music was to himself. Who knows?

Seen as an attack on the music itself? I think context is everything, here, and especially when carefully considering the reported verbiage in its entirety:

Originally Posted by Akikm Aliu

“He walked in before a morning pre-game skate and said ‘Hey Akim, I’m sick of you playing that n----- s---,’ ” Aliu told TSN, with Peters, who was then the Ice Hogs head coach, referring to Aliu’s selection of hip-hop music. “He said ‘I’m sick of hearing this n-----s f------ other n-----s in the ass stuff.’
“He then walked out like nothing ever happened. You could hear a pin drop in the room, everything went dead silent. I just sat down in my stall, didn’t say a word.”

I have deliberately set my focus elsewhere on what Peters said to make a point: in no way can one separate what Peters said from whom he addressed. He singled out Akim Aliu—a black man—for his selection of music, and identified it as "n***** ####." There just is not any ambiguity there. Aliu further reported that Peters called him into his office to talk about the incident privately. This action in itself only serves to show that he definitely understood the connection between the music and the player. How could he not?

Originally Posted by Housley4Prez

Should he be fired? Absolutely. No walking back from this.

But there's also a very plausible explanation for this that allows both parties to be harmed by a miscommunication.

The explanation you have offered is not remotely plausible, as I have demonstrated by taking into consideration the entire citation, and its context.

Now, the letter states that he apologized to the room. Aliu didn't mention that in the tweets nor in the TSN article.

It's arguably more likely that Peters stupidly called n----- music, on account of the amount of times that word was used in the song, than some deep seated evil racist rage.

No. This is not remotely likely. Or rather, it is not remotely likely that Peters was oblivious to the implications of singling out Aliu for his choice of music, and then describing it as "n***** ####."

Remember the episode of the Simpsons where Homer grabbed that gummy Venus de Milo off the babysitter's butt... and the whole world came down on Homer thinking he was some sort of monster?

Now, this doesn't explain the kicking and the punching... but what does wrap it together is a man with anger management issues, and woefully inept racial sensitivity.

That most certainly is part of the story, but you are also omitting an important part of this whole discussion. Aliu came out in the first place not call attention to the usage of racist language in hockey. He was prompted by reports of abuse surrounding Mike Babcock, and wanted to draw attention to an instance of abuse he suffered at the hand of Bill Peters, who went on to take actions which further damaged Aliu's hockey career.

The problem with Bill Peters and others like him is not [just] racism and anger management. IT'S BULLYING, AND THE ABUSE OF AUTHORITY.