By: KDKA-TV News Team
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The Pittsburgh Penguins found themselves under fire after allegedly putting masks on fans’ faces during the team’s first game in front of fans in nearly a year.
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Tuesday night’s game was the first time fans were allowed to return to the PPG Paints Arena when they hosted the Philadelphia Flyers.
Masking mandates and limited capacity efforts have been implemented.
But it was a post-game Twitter post that has social media in arms.
On Wednesday, the team posted a photo of fans in the stands saying, “Thank you for your continued support of Penguins fans. We can’t wait to see you tomorrow night. “
We just had to say this again …
Thank you for your continued support, Penguins fans.
We can’t wait to see you tomorrow night. pic.twitter.com/f3KGjhHWR0
– Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 4, 2021
It didn’t take long for social media detectives to discover that the photo the penguins posted may have been tampered with.
… three people in that image have their masks retouched at https://t.co/WL961w1bwQ pic.twitter.com/pzMGeGHLG7
– Taylor Haase (@TaylorHaasePGH) March 4, 2021
In the original Getty Images photo, one of the fans was not wearing a mask and others were not wearing it properly.
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The version that the Penguins posted on Twitter showed fans with the masks on correctly.
Photo credit: Getty
Fans quickly took to social media annoyed with the photo manipulation and lack of enforcement of the mask policy.
Apply the mask rule instead of altering the photo. Fool.
– Cronkite Project (@bezsylk) March 4, 2021
Do you have any way to enforce the use of the mask?
– Melinda (@melwedde) March 4, 2021
I see you cut out the woman who wasn’t wearing a mask…. I wonder why lmao. Quality standards
– Jessica (@jcsgreenscreen) March 4, 2021
Let’s let the penguins get away with photoshope skins for fans, huh
– Josh (@GoldAndOrSmith) March 4, 2021
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We reached out to the penguins for comment and have not yet received a response.