Condemnation after New York Rangers prospect racially abused on fan chat

There was widespread condemnation after a hacker posted a racial slur hundreds of times in an online fan video chat Friday with a black New York Rangers prospect.

The National Hockey League team scrambled to disable the hacker on the Zoom chat with K'Andre Miller, the 20-year-old former Wisconsin defenseman drafted No. 22 overall in 2018.

"A vile individual hijacked the chat to post racial slurs, which we disabled as soon as possible," the Rangers said in a statement. "We were incredibly appalled by this behavior, which has no place online, on the ice, or anywhere, and we are investigating the matter."

The NHL also released a statement, saying "The National Hockey League is appalled that a video call arranged today by the New York Rangers to introduce their fans to one of the league's incoming stars, K'Andre Miller, was hacked with racist, cowardly taunts.The person who committed this despicable act is in no way an NHL fan and is not welcome in the hockey community.

Rangers players Jacob Trouba and Ryan Strome tweeted messages of support for Miller.