The Canadian Football League (CFL) fined receiver Maurice Price of the Calgary Stampeders on May 14 after the league said he made negative and inappropriate remarks on his Twitter account towards defensive end Michael Sam of the St. Louis Rams National Football League (NFL) club. Sam made the headlines recently when he announced that he was gay. He was then selected by the Rams in the recent NFL Draft.

Sam broke down in tears when he was taken in the seventh round on May 10 and then NFL Network and ESPN television cameras showed him kiss his boyfriend. The video of the emotional kiss was soon loaded up to the internet and has since gone viral with more than two million people checking it out on You Tube. Sam received a lot of support, but he was also criticized by many, including fellow NFL players.

Mark Cohon, the commissioner of the CFL soon got wind of the messages and came down hard by saying the CFL won’t tolerate any type of discrimination whether it’s toward somebody’s race, religion or sexual preference. Cohon added that the CFL supports gay athletes and gay people in general.

The Stampeders said they were outraged by Price’s remarks and said the comments were offensive. The club also called the comments repugnant and said they don’t represent the franchise’s views at all. One of the tweets said, “My faith won’t allow me to ACCEPT what took place over the weekend. Sorry. NOT sorry! #AdamandEve #NotAdamandAdam.”

That message was later deleted by Price and another one showed up which stated, “Of course my words get misconstrued. I wish Sam nothing but the best and hope he has a fantastic career. It’s nothing personal against him.”

The CFL wouldn’t say how much they fined Price, but many people have come out and said it’s not appropriate to fine somebody who has the right of freedom of speech. They point out that they may not agree with Price’s comments, but he still has the right to say them.