Chicago Blackhawks prospect blasted on social media for choice of Halloween costume

As if the Chicago Blackhawks needed anything else to deal with right now. The team, which is embroiled in a lawsuit, and the constant coverage of it, over sexual assault allegations against former video coach Brad Aldrich, is now dealing with the fallout from a choice of Halloween costume from one of their draft picks.

Artur Kayumov of Russia, selected in the second round (50th overall) by Chicago in 2016, is facing a ton of backlash on social media after posting a picture of himself dressed as some sort of Arab terrorist on Halloween, complete with a fake weapon. Kayumov has since deleted the picture from his Instagram account but, like with everything that's ever deleted from the Internet, it's never truly done.

he deleted his post but this was in his story pic.twitter.com/MmksYkTr1v— isabelle 🇵🇸 (@izzyw99) November 1, 2021

It was also pointed out by Yahoo Sports Writer Thomas Williams that matters were made even worse with Kayumov's girlfriend dressing up in traditional Indian apparel despite not being of Indian descent.

Kayumov has been playing for Yaroslavl Lokomotiv of the KHL since 2015, and even members of the Russian media are saying it's likely he'll stay there after this.

There's no question this issue will likely divide many people. Some will see it as dumb and harmful, while others will wonder, perhaps facetiously, what the issue is. Either way, it's difficult to not see Kayumov's choice as at least perpetuating a stereotype that can be harmful to someone of Arab descent. This was best expressed by Hadi Kalakeche of Dobber Prospects. His Tweets are posted below:

This isn't an isolated thing. I've had fellow students, teachers, and employers show up dressed as "Arabs" with some sort of taqiyyah or hijab accompanied by some form of weaponry. One kid showed up at my school with a ticking strap bomb under the exact "costume" seen here.— Hadi Kalakeche (@HadiK_Scouting) November 1, 2021

Twitter can only go so far in terms of helping me express what's on my mind, so I wrote about it some more here. Feel free to scroll to the end. Or don't, I'm not your mom.
https://t.co/gpNICBe0SN— Hadi Kalakeche (@HadiK_Scouting) November 2, 2021

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