“Provy Did Nothing Wrong” – John Tortorella Follows Up on Pride Night Fallout

Torts spoke ahead of Thursday night’s game against Chicago.

He followed up on the Ivan Provorov Pride Night situation, saying this, in part:

Couple of thoughts here:

1. Torts is correct to note that Provorov “quietly went about his business.” It’s not like the guy came out and said “I am firmly against Pride Night, same-sex marriage is wrong, and Woody’s should be shut down.” He wasn’t actively antagonizing and chose not to elaborate when reporters pressed him.
2. Provorov said the other night, “I respect everybody and I respect everybody’s choices,” but the head of the Russian Orthodox Church does not. Patriarch Kirill has condemned homosexuality consistently over the years, so when Provy also said “my choice is to stay true to myself and to my religion,” he’s sending two different messages in one sentence.
3. Some people are theorizing that Provy can’t come out in support of pride because Russia might get pissed and go after him or his family or something like that. No clue on that front, but Russia is consistently peddling in shady shit and currently invading a sovereign country, so the thought is certainly plausible.
4. Pride Night really is not that big of a deal. It’s just a show of support for a historically marginalized community, and it means something to them. Nobody is trying to turn you gay. Your kid isn’t whisked away for 15 minutes to attend a drag queen story time before being returned to their seat.
5. The problem with pride night or military night or the national anthem or whatever is that when there’s a conflict or a refusal from a player, we focus on that controversy. In this case, the Flyers ran a successful initiative the other night, yet all of the talk is about the Russian guy who decided not to participate.

That’s it for now. Let’s get it back to the Eagles.

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