John Tortorella is a smooth cat for this one.
The Philadelphia Flyers squared off Jan. 17 against the Anaheim Ducks. The game took place on the Flyers’ Pride Night — which resulted in drama, drama, drama!
The team wore LGBTQ-themed jerseys during their pregame skate to help kick off the night, but there was one player missing from the festivities: defenseman Ivan Provorov. Citing his religious beliefs and clarifying he is Russian Orthodox, Provorov decided to sit out the skate and not wear the jersey.
As expected, people lost their absolute minds.
But one person came to Provorov’s defense: Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella. And he did so in incredibly smooth fashion, simply saying Provorov was “being true to himself and his religion.”
Ivan Provorov didn’t participate in warmups, and head coach John Tortorella confirmed it was because he chose not to wear the team’s Pride-themed jersey on Pride Night.
Full comments: pic.twitter.com/Gdd7035pEg
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) January 18, 2023
John Tortorella was such a smooth cat with how he handled the whole situation.
I love how he came to the defense of both Provorov and Provorov’s religious beliefs. He did it in such a clever way where nobody within the NHL realm can get mad at him. Some may call it playing both sides, but I call it Tortorella being a slick bastard — and I mean that with the utmost respect.
I find this line great, how he started things off by immediately pointing to the team’s press release: “The organization has put out statement, and I’m not going to get too deep into the conversation,” Tortorella said.
In other words, that man clearly had no interest in talking about the entire situation, and had no interest in pissing anybody off. “I’m going to point to the press release from the team, quickly defend my player and then I’m getting the (bleep) out of here,” is pretty much what Tortorella did in this whole exchange. (RELATED: Tom Brady’s ‘New Girlfriend’ Blames All Of His Tampa Bay Buccaneers Teammates For Playoff Loss)
What a smooth jive turkey.