Longtime Capitals stalwart John Carlson’s wife had Washington fans seeing red after making what she claimed to be a joke about not liking the color red — and it led to quite an interesting twist to his exit.
After fans slammed Gina Nucci Carlson for her joke referencing Washington’s red color, leading to her posting a lengthy defense that highlighted one fan calling her a “c–t,” she claimed “there was much more” to the midseason trade to the Ducks last year during his 17th season with the Capitals.
“Do I wish things ended better with an organization my husband spent 17 years with? Yes. I do. It broke me that it didn’t. He did not simply just get traded. There was much more to it & I will end it there. I loved my husbands (sic) career in DC,” she wrote Friday night in her Instagram Story.
“We all love all his old teammates but I don’t like red and that’s all.”
John, a 36-year-old defenseman, spent the first 1,143 games of his career with the Capitals before the traded him to Anaheim last season.
Gina, per a Reddit post, posted to her Instagram Story at the time that the trade affected the family while thanking the Capitals community.
“It wouldn’t be genuine of me to leave here as if this is just a business & John is a transaction,” she allegedly wrote. “Our hearts were broken last night.”
John ultimately signed a two-year deal with the Lightning in free agency, and the team posted to Its Instagram account Friday photos of its new players.
Gina, according to X, featured that post in her Instagram Story with a heart and wrote, “I never like red anyway,” with the hands making a heart emoji.
It appears that comment did not go over well with Capitals fans, and she posted a lengthy defense to Instagram while screenshotting one nasty response to her in which a user called her a “c–t.”
“I said I don’t like the color red. It was a joke and I won’t say sorry for that — but for the Caps fans who have been wonderful to me. It wasn’t meant to offend you and the team you cheer for. I love & appreciate so many of you on here,” Gina wrote with a hands making a heart emoji at the end of the last sentence.
“DC is my home. I’m not going to defend myself bc I said I don’t like the color red. This is my page and a place for me to put my opinions. John had an incredible career in Washington. If you think his wife saying she doesn’t like red is disrespectful to that. That’s your problem. He didn’t have a problem with my opinion on the color red.”
She specifically called out the user who used the vile term.
“Had to take off the first person bc he messaged me & was nice but McNasty you are staying here,” she wrote,” she wrote above the comment.
John’s Instagram account does not feature any comments on the situation, but he previously indicated after the trade that things happened in an unusual manner.
Instead of finding out he was dealt from the team or his agent, his cousin, a farmer, told him in the middle of the night.
He called the timing of the situation “a little wacky,” per the Associated Press.
“In the middle of the night is not the best way to find out some very altering news like that,” Carlson, who joined the Capitals in 2009 and won a Stanley Cup with the team in 2018, told the AP in March.
“It’s been a crazy day with my family. Packing, getting ready, saying goodbyes. It’s an exciting time, certainly … but there was a lot that went into the day as well that I’d never had to deal with. That’s part of life. That’s part of this league. I’ve been lucky not to have to do too many of these things.”
