The Chicago Blackhawks will forgo carrying Delight jerseys throughout their warmup skate Sunday earlier than going through the Vancouver Canucks over fears of retaliation in opposition to its gamers of Russian descent.
The jerseys — which characteristic rainbow colours on the numbers — may very well be construed as violating a brand new Russian legislation that bans the promotion of “homosexual propaganda,” in line with the Chicago Solar-Occasions.
CNN reported that the legislation, which took impact in December, makes it unlawful for Russians to “reward” LGBTQ relationships or recommend they’re regular.
The entrance workplace made the choice within the curiosity of defending three Blackhawk gamers who’ve household in Russia or are of Russian heritage. That features Russian defenseman Nikita Zaitsev, Swiss ahead Philipp Kurashev and Kazakh goalie Anton Khudobin.
Chicago is the fourth group to bail on carrying the Delight jerseys. The opposite groups are the Minnesota Wild, New York Islanders and New York Rangers.
The pattern first garnered consideration when Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov opted to not put on the jersey throughout the group’s Delight night time celebration in January. He pointed to his Russian Orthodox non secular beliefs as the rationale.
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