The Dallas Stars fired Alex Kleuser, a visual effects designer for the team, after they were alerted to a racist comment he made on social media.

"Alex was an employee of the Dallas Stars. This individual's statement does not represent the culture and values of the club. As such, this employee is no longer a part of the organization," the team said in a statement.

According to screenshots of his post, Kleuser was responding to a thread on Nextdoor, a social networking hub focused on specific neighborhoods, regarding how to deal with a squirrel infestation and made a racist comment about Chinese people.

Kleuser had been with the team since September 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The NHL has stepped up its efforts on diversity and inclusion in response to the global protests following the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man, while in Minneapolis police custody. The league is developing four new groups to study these issues from the perspective of executives, players, fans and youth hockey. That includes the recently announced Executive Inclusion Council, which is co-chaired by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Buffalo Sabres president Kim Pegula, who was born in South Korea.