The Seattle Kraken BookTok controversy refers to a 2023 marketing strategy that backfired when the NHL team began pandering to the 'Hockey Romance' community on TikTok. Initially, the team leaned into the 'spicy' tropes found in romance novels, featuring player Alex Wennberg as a main attraction. However, the situation quickly escalated as fans began posting increasingly sexualized content and harassing Wennberg and his family. The controversy reached a breaking point when Wennberg's wife spoke out against the behavior, leading the team to delete all BookTok-related content. The meme serves as a cautionary tale about brands engaging in parasocial subcultures and the blurred lines between fiction and reality in internet fandoms.