I’m not sure we need another thread on this, but I did find this bit in [Mollie’s just published Post article](https://nypost.com/2023/01/28/rangers-made-an-absolute-mess-with-pride-night-about-face/) worth sharing:
>Two players separately told Post colleague Larry Brooks and me that there were no team discussions about sporting the pride-themed jerseys and tape. They did not know why they didn’t wear them. Brooks also reached out to the NHL’s deputy commissioner and chief legal officer, Bill Daly, to see if teams had been advised not to proceed with their original Pride Night plans in the aftermath of Provorov’s refusal. Daly said no and that each club is entitled to proceed as it sees fit.
>
>So if it wasn’t the players and it wasn’t the league, then it appears the decision must have come from higher up in the Rangers’ organization.
by lionson76
24 Comments
People that think this will just blow over by tomorrow I don’t think understand how easily this fanbase holds a grudge and how at least two beat writers (Mollie and Vince) went *in* on the organization.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I certainly won’t forget this if for no other reason than the lack of communication seemingly for everyone seems indicative of weirder things to come
Likely this came from Dolan, and well that guy can get hit by multiple zambonis for multiple reasons,
Regardless of how people feel about the whole thing, if this is true I think we can all agree it fits a time-honored tradition of Dolan becoming a dumb unnecessary distraction right as the team gets good again
This is what happens when you try too hard to appease people. All the Rangers (and the league) had to do from the start is call it pride night, flash the pride colors throughout the game/show their support through venders (like big gay ice cream in MSG) and the players could have worn the same warmup jerseys they’ve been wearing for years – No one would have complained. Opened up a can of big gay worms with these jerseys. Now deal with it. Everyone – Organizations for the bad PR, LGBTQ community, players who don’t support it- deal with it.
I don’t know what exactly happened and what the “about face” was, but what’s wrong with wearing jerseys for a “Pride Night?” Like, what does not supporting “Pride” even look like? It’s like being “anti breast cancer awareness” month.
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Two scenarios –
1) this came from Dolan himself as a story to distract from his facial recognition story
2) this came from gallant/Drury to protect one of their players who was going to not support the cause.
I honestly feel like option 2 is more likely outcome.
It’s really the principal for me. If you say/advertise that you will wear the jerseys. Just wear them. If it wasn’t a part of this years plan. Then so be it. But stick to your word.
I don’t like how they have Panarin’s picture up there. Some people might think it was his fault and receive hate from it :/
Dolan was just on Good Day New York attacking immigrants and crime reform, we know who did this
Fuck Dolan. Idk if it was his doing. But just incase. Fuck that guy.
They didn’t wear the jerseys. Big deal. The lbgtq community gets a whole month for pride.
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Ermahgerd, you aren’t allowed to not like what I like.
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It’s better if the team doesn’t do it as a group then to single out players that don’t want to support it for one reason or another. I didn’t see last night’s pregame so I assumed they wore the jerseys but some players didn’t tape their sticks with rainbow tape. So I posted where do the LGBTQ+ warriors draw the line? You’re already having players that don’t live your lifestyle having a pride night so is the jersey or is it tape that satisfy your need? I don’t see a problem with either but others might. maybe the NHL should rethink this until these questions are answered
Who cares?
I feel like where people rub their bathing suit areas for pleasure has no real bearing on the rest of real life.
To all those in the comments saying “ohhh its not a big deal”…of all teams, a team located in NEW YORK CITY of all places chickening out on something like this is a horrible move for the team, regardless if you as a commenter personally give a shit. They are actively alienating a population of people in the city that already feel unwelcome in the sport because of how crazy homophobic hockey culture is.
Shameful of the administration. Stop shoving the fucking national anthem down our throats if you really wanna stay apolitical.
I honestly don’t believe that people are making such a huge deal of this. The Garden was lit up in rainbow both inside on the ceiling and outside on the panels, the anthem singer was gay, the person who dropped the puck was gay, they ran commercials with gay Rangers fans, social media was promoting Pride night, they had messages on the Jumbotron….and they are still getting backlash for being homophobic and/or somehow excluding LGBT people? Huh?
Btw the team also made a donation to an LGBT cause. Mollie and Vince both mentioned it in thier articles I believe. So the narrative about raising money to donate by selling the warm ups and stick tape is nullified too. I mean, what are we talking about here?
“Hockey is for everyone!… unless it doesn’t fit the straight white culture that we’ve spent 80 years cultivating”. Imagine the outrage if a player said they don’t support the military or giving money to cancer research so they won’t wear those jerseys. But because it’s in support of the LGBTQ+ community, people will scream that this is about politics and not about the very basic human rights we’ve been asking for for years. This didn’t have to be a story, but they sure as fuck made it one.
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Dolan must have misunderstood someone and thought there was a person named rainbow that was an attorney that failed he facial scans
Dolan always manages to show up at the dumbest times.
Just be a fuckin hands off owner. Sit back and enjoy the ridiculous money msg brings in and let ppl with the brains run the shit