(TheConservativeNews.org) – A National Hockey League player who has become the latest target of the “woke” mob after he declined to wear a special “pride” jersey strongly emphasized that he bears no ill will toward gay people while defending his own personal religious beliefs.
Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov has been subjected to days of being savaged by activists and so-called sports journalists over his daring to defy left-wing orthodoxy by choosing to not put on the rainbow jersey for the pregame skate prior to his team’s Tuesday “Pride Night” game against the visiting Anaheim Ducks because it violated his devout Russian Orthodox Christian faith.
He would soon find out that when it comes to intolerance for free thinking and persecution for religious views, Vladimir Putin has nothing on the American left as he has been deluged with pure hatred for such an unforgivable display of non-conformity.
As the firestorm swirled around him, with many demanding he be harshly disciplined by the NHL, Provorov defended himself to the media after the game which was won by the Flyers 5-2.
“I respect everybody’s choices,” he said.
“My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion, that’s all I’m gonna say,” he added as he generously offered to answer actual hockey questions from the gaggle of reporters who demanded answers for his perceived disrespect of the protected demographic.
Such independence isn’t simply going to be allowed to stand by the mouthpieces for a league that has spent years trying to outdo its more popular competitors like the NFL and NBA in a virtue-signaling competition, and one xenophobic NHL Network analyst said that if Provorov didn’t like bending a knee to the corporate-backed homosexual agenda, that he should be sent to the frontlines in Ukraine.
A Canadian TV host says the NHL should “fine the Flyers a million dollars” and “attack” Christian player Ivan Provorov for not wearing a gay pride jersey. So much for tolerance.
Provorov is finding support from millions of Americans who are proud of him for sticking by his religious ideals.
Jersey sales is just one measure of that support. After the 27-year-old defenseman became a free speech hero overnight, fans apparently flocked to the NHL Shop to buy one of his jerseys.
As of Thursday afternoon, Provorov’s Fanatics-branded orange “Breakaway” jersey for men — which goes for $174.99 — was sold out in every size, from extra small to 5XL.
