{"id":16644,"date":"2023-01-25T13:07:17","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T18:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=16644"},"modified":"2023-01-25T13:07:36","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T18:07:36","slug":"flyerss-coach-defends-ivan-provorovs-pride-jersey-boycott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/01\/flyerss-coach-defends-ivan-provorovs-pride-jersey-boycott","title":{"rendered":"Flyers’ Coach Defends Ivan Provorov\u2019s Pride Jersey Boycott"},"content":{"rendered":"
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All-Pro Reels \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ivan Provorov, a defenseman for the NHL\u2019s Philadelphia Flyers, has made headlines after his\u00a0<\/span>refusal<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to wear a pride jersey for the NHL\u2019s LGBTQ+ pride night. The event occurred last Tuesday and involved wearing a rainbow-themed warm-up jersey. Provorov, a Russian Orthodox, cited his faith for refusing to participate. \u201cI respect everybody\u2019s choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion,\u201d he said in a postgame interview. Rather than being benched, Flyers coach John Tortorella permitted Provorov to play the game, which the Flyers won 5-2. Provorov faced immediate backlash and was labeled \u201chomophobic\u201d for the decision. \u201cBeing LGBT+ is not a \u2018choice.\u2019 Being ignorant, obnoxious, and homophobic is a choice. Ivan Provorov wasn\u2019t wearing uniform tonight, and the NHL Flyers should not have let him play. Stop letting bigots hide behind their cherry-picked religion. Do better,\u201d NHL writer Rachael Millanta\u00a0<\/span>wrote<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on her Twitter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tortorella has continued to defend Provorov and his decision to allow Provorov to play. In an interview with\u00a0<\/span>Philly Hockey Now<\/span><\/a>, he said that he believed benching Provorov would be \u201cunfair.\u201d On\u00a0<\/span>Thursday<\/span><\/a>, he defended Provorov, saying he had no concerns that the controversy would affect the team. He also stated that he and Provorov had had a good discussion about his decision to not participate in the LGBTQ+ event and that he didn\u2019t believe the conflict would affect the team. \u201cTo me, it bonds the team going through something like that. I\u2019m not concerned about the speculation of a team splitting up,\u201d he said. Furthermore, he added that \u201cProvy did nothing wrong. Just because you don\u2019t agree with his decision doesn\u2019t mean he did anything wrong.\u201d He also noted that Provorov is not trying to force his beliefs on anyone. \u201cProvy is not out there banging a drum against Pride Night. He quietly went about his business. He and I had a number of conversations to how we were gonna do this. You have the team, you have him, you have all this going on, talked a lot, you have the whole process there. He felt strongly with his beliefs, and he stayed with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While not citing Provorov specifically, the Flyers team has voiced its support of the LGBTQ+ community. \u201cThe Philadelphia Flyers organization is committed to inclusivity and is proud to support the LGBTQ+ community. Many of our players are active in their support of local LGBTQ+ organizations, and we were proud to host our annual Pride Night again this year. The Flyers will continue to be strong advocates for inclusivity and the LGBTQ+ community,\u201d the team said in a statement. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has voiced the NHL\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>commitment to \u201cinclusivity<\/span><\/a>\u201d saying, \u201cA handful of players don\u2019t define what we\u2019re doing as a whole. You know what our values are. The Flyers have the same values, and individuals may have their own reasons for doing what they do. And you have to talk to him about that.\u201d He went on to add, \u201cAt the end of the day, I think everybody knows what the league stands for in terms of our values\u2026 individual players are gonna make their decisions and follow their beliefs\u2026 let\u2019s focus on the 700 that embrace it and not one or two that may have some issues for their own personal reasons.\u201d There have been reports that Provorov jerseys have been\u00a0<\/span>selling out<\/span><\/a>\u00a0online since the controversy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ivan Provorov, a defenseman for the NHL\u2019s Philadelphia Flyers, has made headlines after his\u00a0refusal\u00a0to wear a pride jersey for the NHL\u2019s LGBTQ+ pride night. The event occurred last Tuesday and involved wearing a rainbow-themed warm-up jersey. Provorov, a Russian Orthodox, cited his faith for refusing to participate. \u201cI respect everybody\u2019s choices. My choice is to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":16647,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nFlyers' Coach Defends Ivan Provorov\u2019s Pride Jersey Boycott<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Flyers head coach defends player Ivan Provorov after refusing to wear pride jersey for pride night.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Flyers' Coach Defends Ivan Provorov\u2019s Pride Jersey Boycott\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Flyers head coach defends player Ivan Provorov after refusing to wear pride jersey for pride night.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/01\/flyerss-coach-defends-ivan-provorovs-pride-jersey-boycott\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-25T18:07:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-25T18:07:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/01\/Ivan-Provorov_credit-All-Pro-Reels-wikimedia-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Flyers' Coach Defends Ivan Provorov\u2019s Pride Jersey 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