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Fact check: 'Let's Go Brandon' shirt unrelated to woman's removal from hockey game

Bayliss Wagner   | Paste BN
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The claim: A woman was ejected from a hockey game for wearing a 'Let's Go Brandon' shirt 

As the euphemistic “Let’s Go Brandon” chant has gained steam at sporting events and on social media, so have false claims about pushback against the phrase.

This was the case on Nov. 8, when a TikTok video captioned "Woman getting kicked (out) for a wearing 'Let's Go Brandon' shirt," went viral. Played more than 1.3 million times in a week, the TikTok shows security guards removing a woman in a “Let’s Go Brandon” shirt from a Wichita Thunder hockey game. 

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"And so it begins," said the caption on an Instagram post sharing the video from TikTok on Nov. 8. "Good luck wearing a Let’s Go Brandon shirt to #nascar next year." 

Marty Anderson, the administrator of the Instagram account, told Paste BN in a message that he first saw the video on his "For You" page, a feed of suggested videos on TikTok. The video also spread through Twitter and Facebook.

But a statement from the Wichita Thunder says the “Let’s Go Brandon” shirt had nothing to do with the woman’s removal. Several other people wearing the same shirt were allowed to stay for the entire game.

Morrison said in a follow-up TikTok video that she wasn't completely sure why the woman was kicked out of the game, but that she thought it was related to her shirt. She said she saw security speak with the woman several times, and that the woman was drinking.

Paste BN reached out to other social media users who shared the claim for comment.

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Team says removal not due to shirt

The incident shown in the broadcast took place at a Nov. 5 ECHL hockey game between the Thunder, affiliate of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers, and the Kansas City Mavericks, affiliate of the NHL's Calgary Flames.

Three days later, the Thunder released a statement on Facebook explaining the woman was removed from InTrust Bank Arena for inappropriate behavior, not her shirt.

“(A video on social media) is accompanied by a statement that she was removed due to her shirt. This is incorrect,” the statement reads. “This individual was removed by arena security after multiple warnings, because she was using extremely profane language and gestures toward our staff and those around her.”

Joel Lomurno, the Wichita Thunder's general manager, told Paste BN in an email that the woman was sitting with 19 other people who were wearing the same shirt. The group is also heard chanting “Let’s Go Brandon” in the viral video.

Of that group, only the one woman was removed, Lomurno said.

More: Want enhanced clarity on the news? Join text chat with Paste BN's expert fact-checkers.

“She just happened to be wearing a Let’s Go Brandon shirt," he said. "She was with a group of 20 people in the same shirt, (and) 19 of them stayed until the end, so obviously she was not removed for her shirt.”

Lomurno said security escorted the woman out for profane words and gestures after “three warnings and much patience on our end.”

A video on Twitter shows the woman gesturing at game officials. 

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a woman was ejected from a hockey game for wearing a "Let's Go Brandon" shirt. According to the Wichita Thunder's general manager, the woman in the video was removed because she continued to use obscene language and gestures after several warnings from arena staff. She was sitting with 19 other people wearing the same shirt, none of whom were removed from the game. 

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