Not everyone is bending the knee to the woke demands of the current culture, even within those organizations at the heart of it, such as the NHL. There, with the league attempting to go even woker by having the players wear rainbow jerseys, one man is fighting back against wokeness and for his Christian faith by refusing to wear the rainbow jersey.
That brave man is Ivan Provorov, defenseman for the Philadelphia Flyers, who said that he would not be wearing the rainbow jersey for “Pride night”. Watch him describe why here:
Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov refused to wear a rainbow jersey for warm ups during Pride night stating his Russian Orthodox faith.
“I respect everybody and I respect everybody’s choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion.”pic.twitter.com/YorVLBbcwY
— OutKick (@Outkick) January 18, 2023
As you can hear in the clip, Ivan Provorov said “Everybody, I respect everybody’s choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion. That’s all I’m gonna say. Any type of time I’m going to comment on that. If you have any hockey questions, I would I would answer those…”
What’s better is that Provorov didn’t back down. When the Flyers warmed up in the pride jerseys and sticks wrapped in rainbow tape, Provorov didn’t join in. He was the only one on the team who sat it out, but he stayed true to his faith and did so.
The Flyers released a statement on the matter, saying “The 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.”
The Flyers coach, John Tortorella, speaking on the matter, said “With Provy, he’s being true to himself and to his religion. This has to do with his belief and his religion. It’s one thing I respect about Provy: He’s always true to himself. That’s where we’re at with that.”
Wokies on Twitter were predictably outraged by Provorov’s anti-woke stance and defense of the Christian religion and its beliefs, saying things like:
“Invoking his religion here out of convenience? I take it this means he also doesn’t do drugs or drink, doesn’t swear, and is monogamous”
“Wear what you want, or don’t. Just don’t cite your “religion” as it’s reasoning. Pretty sure the Russian Orthodox faith would frown on fist fighting over a hockey game but he’s probably ok with that, I’m guessing.”
“Yeah I bet this guy never sinned in his life. He’s soooooo true to his religion.”
Others were supportive and commended his bravery, however, saying things like:
“mandatory forced Pride is complete nonsense. Back the Sixties and Seventies Gays and lesbians demanded freedom. They didn’t give a damn what the ‘moral majority’ thought of them, they just wanted the moral majority to leave them alone.”
“Now that’s actual bravery. I’m sure ESPN will dedicate their network tomorrow to trashing him.”
“Good for him! Is everyone supposed to just fall in line to group-think or else risk cancellation? Or worse? What is this, Gideon? Are we in the rainbow version of the Handmaid’s Tale?”
Featured image credit: screengrab from embedded video
"*" indicates required fields