The Philadelphia Flyers held a virtual press conference on Tuesday where players answered questions ahead of the upcoming 2023-24 NHL season. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse when one reporter was bashed by a Flyers representative on a hot mic for asking a Philadelphia player a perfectly reasonable question.
The Flyers signed veteran winger Garnet Hathaway to a two-year contract earlier in July. Naturally, Giana Han of the Philadelphia Inquirer figured that she would ask Hathaway about his fit on this team that most see as a rebuilding team.
“I was just wondering, as a veteran who has had a relatively successful NHL career what makes the Flyers, who are in a rebuild state a destination that was desirable to you?” asked Han.
However, toward the end of her question, someone within the Flyers organization in the virtual press conference apparently forgot to mute their mic, bashing Han for her question.
The interruption was captured by a Twitter user named “Lights Out Hockey”, and it certainly is not a good look for the Flyers as an organization.
“How many times is she going to ask this f***ing question?” the Flyers representative was heard saying.
Someone from the Philadelphia Flyers organization is getting fired 😬 pic.twitter.com/gSCy6SodpC
— Canadian Hockey News (@hockeynewschn) July 11, 2023
As Hathaway goes to answer the question, another person in the background can clearly be heard saying “The Flyers suck.”
The video gained attention on social media, which prompted a statement coming from Flyers’ new President of Hockey Operations Keith Jones.
“Earlier today, our team’s social media account streamed a recording of a virtual press conference which included disrespectful remarks by members of our social media staff. On behalf of the entire organization, I want to extend our apologies. Any disrespect towards reporters is completely unacceptable, especially when they are simply doing their job. We have reached out to the reporter and outlet personally to express our regret, and will continue to promote an environment of mutual respect when working with media.”
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) July 11, 2023
Barraging reporters has unfortunately been a trend within the Flyers organization, as head coach John Tortorella has been notorious for shutting down reasonable questions from reporters in the past. He even did a very similar thing to Giana Han back in February.
Here's John Tortorella's entire postgame media scrum pic.twitter.com/Yr4SwVBAOD
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) February 17, 2023
This type of incident within the Flyers organization is likely something that Jones is truly upset with. He knows exactly how it feels to be on the other side of things asking questions, working as an NHL analyst for Warner Bros Discovery and as a Flyers analyst on NBC Sports Philadelphia for nearly two decades.
[Lights Out Hockey on Twitter]
