The National Hockey League took some heat over a Tuesday tweet promoting a transgender and non-binary hockey tournament — and a follow-up comment asserting, “Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Nonbinary identity is real.”

The tournament in question — the Team Trans Draft Tournament — took place over the weekend in Middleton, Wisconsin, and included only trans and non-binary players. On Tuesday, the NHL’s official Twitter account shared several photos from the tournament along with a statement showing support for the event.

“The NHL is proud to support this past weekend’s Team Trans Draft Tournament in Middleton, Wisconsin,” the tweet read. “This was the first tournament comprised entirely of transgender and nonbinary players, with around 80 folks participating! #HockeyIsForEveryone #NHLPride.”

The NHL is proud to support this past weekend's Team Trans Draft Tournament in Middleton, Wisconsin. This was the first tournament comprised entirely of transgender and nonbinary players, with around 80 folks participating! #HockeyIsForEveryone #NHLPride pic.twitter.com/OfEoAVXtH5

— NHL (@NHL) November 22, 2022

But when someone commented in the photos, saying, “So, men playing on womans team?” the NHL account fired back: “Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Nonbinary identity is real.”

Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Nonbinary identity is real.

— NHL (@NHL) November 22, 2022

“The lockerroom situation must have been a nightmare,” Grabien media founder Tom S. Elliott observed.

The lockerroom situation must have been a nightmare https://t.co/8cLW0eYx4u

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 22, 2022

“The NHL out here trying to overtake the NFL as the worst run sports league on Planet Earth,” Elliott added in another tweet.

“Turn off professional sports. Walk away and never look back,” Jesse Kelly added.

“The NHL should definitely let a biological woman line up against Alexander Ovechkin and see how that theory works out for them,” Greg Price tweeted.

“This is offensive to everyone who believes in science,” Chris Loesch posted. “Really stupid for the NHL to wade into this.”

“If trans men are men why aren’t they just playing in a men’s league?” @midnightmitch asked, following that with a series of tweets mocking the NHL.

First, he pointed out the fact that as soon as the comments got away from them and started to go sideways, the NHL turned off replies to the tweet.

https://t.co/jr6qgSy5v2 pic.twitter.com/Eeb1uezIqa

— Prison Mitch, Great Meme Wars Vet (@MidnightMitch) November 22, 2022

And then came a doctored photo featuring transgender U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine as the league’s Most Valuable Player.

Trans women’s division MVP https://t.co/jr6qgSh2t2 pic.twitter.com/7ILHj9WhDX

— Prison Mitch, Great Meme Wars Vet (@MidnightMitch) November 22, 2022

While the majority mocked the whole situation, there were several who pointed out the fact that as long as there was a dedicated tournament for all transgender and non-binary players — and if that grew into a league in itself — that could minimize the likelihood that biological male players who identify as women might attempt to join all-female leagues.

Skittles is urging fans to stop throwing candy at musicians, and the company has even taken out a full-page ad to spread the message.

The candy brand’s new campaign appears to be a direct response to an incident involving Harry Styles. Apparently, a concertgoer kept throwing Skittles at the “Watermelon Sugar” composer while he was onstage at a recent event. TikTok videos show Styles keeping his cool but shielding his eyes from the rainbow-colored candies flying toward him.

The official Skittles account addressed the matter first on Twitter, sharing on November 15, “Didn’t think I needed to say this: Please don’t throw Skittles.”

But that wasn’t all. A recent edition of the Los Angeles Times featured a full-page ad intended to spread the message even further. 

“Protect the rainbow. Taste the rainbow. But please, don’t throw the rainbow,” the text said over a graphic of heart-shaped sunglasses with a green Skittle being thrown toward them. The bottom of the image included a public service announcement for fans. “PSA: Protect your eyes from Skittles (by eating them, not throwing them),” it said.

PSA: Protect your eyes from Skittles (by eating them, not throwing them) pic.twitter.com/1qy1bOYeSt

— SKITTLES (@Skittles) November 19, 2022

Styles’ bandmate Pauli the PSM held an Instagram Live session following the Skittles incident and told fans the musician was fine, but that they should stop throwing things at him. “But do me a favor, don’t throw no more Skittles on stage,” he said, per Billboard. 

For some reason, Styles’ fans have a penchant for throwing food items at him while he’s performing. Over the summer, the “Night Changes” singer got pelted with a chicken nugget as he was singing.

“Who threw the chicken nugget?” he said, as the fans in the crowd chanted, “Eat it!”

Styles replied, “I don’t eat chicken, sorry. I don’t eat meat.”

The Skittles brand is owned by Mars, Incorporated, a multi-billion dollar, privately-owned confectionery company based in McLean, Virginia. Earlier this summer, the brand also faced backlash for refusing to remove an allegedly toxic ingredient from Skittles candies.

Per a lawsuit filed at the time, Mars had pledged to remove the colorant titanium dioxide (TiO2) from its ingredients list back in 2016 but had failed to do so. The food additive is banned in the European Union due to potentially harmful side effects. TiO2 is often found in paint, adhesives, plastics, and some roofing materials.