June 20, 2013 by Charlie Eisenhood in Livewire, News with 37 comments
Major League Ultimate has suspended Brandon “Muffin” Malecek without pay for one game after he published a negative review of the Innova Pulsar, the official disc of Major League Ultimate, on a personal blog two days ago. [LATE UPDATE: The suspension has been reduced to a half-game, according to a Boston Whitecaps official.]
Last night, the post was removed from the Internet without comment. We have the full transcript of Malecek’s comments here.
According to Malecek’s fiancee, the league ordered the post be taken down and then suspended him for this weekend’s game.
She wrote:
[quote]There is nothing in the contract addressing players’ comments on sponsor products. (Although it can and will be argued that that is implicit.)
The game this weekend can’t impact the playoff status of the Whitecaps, but censorship as an issue in both MLU and AUDL is interesting and worthy of discussion.
I’m a fan of Innova disc golf discs (and the Pulsar, as a disc golf mid-range approach disc, is a good disc) and I’m a fan of most of what the MLU has done. I am not surprised by the disciplinary action taken by the MLU to protect its sponsor relationships, but I do think it is a petty reaction demonstrating the league’s insecurity.[/quote]
Neither Malecek nor the league has responded to a request for comment.
