Daniel Wolfram
The all-time leading goal scorer in the NHL, the most prestigious ice hockey league, is in hot water after appearing in an ad for Putin during the upcoming election.
Washington Capitals superstar and all-time National Hockey League (NHL) leading goal scorer, Alexander Ovechkin, faces criticism after appearing in a campaign ad for Vladimir Putin’s political party.
Speaking with reporter Robert Klemko at ESPN, Ovechkin said he accepted the Kremlin’s request without hesitation and felt surprised by the public anger. He insisted that he remains a peaceful person who supports his home country no matter what.
“I want the peace and love for everybody,” Ovechkin told ESPN. “It doesn’t matter who you are, American, Russian or Ukrainian.”
Criticism and hard-hitting questions for Ovi
Despite his framing, media researcher Sarah Oates views the promotional video as blatant propaganda for the regime at the Kremlin and points out that the ad links Ovechkin to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
“Ovechkin supports Putin, he supports the Russian regime, and that means he supports genocide,” Oates told ESPN.
After the press conference where Ovechkin answered the questions about the ads with general platitudes, Klemko got a chance to ask him some more direct questions about his views on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
When he asked the Russian star player about starring in the commercial alongside Maria Lvova-Belova, who has an international arrest warrant out for abducting Ukrainian children, Ovechkin stated that he does not know who she is.
Likewise, he kept reiterating to Klemko that he is not involved in politics, so he does not know who the good guys or the villains are in the war, just as he repeated that he hopes “everything’s gonna be good, and everything’s gonna be done soon” because he has many Ukrainian friends.
When Klemko asked Ovechkin about the notion that he supports genocide against the Ukrainian people by starring in the ad, he groaned and said, “I hope it’s not gonna, it’s not gonna be like that.” The Capitals’ press team then quickly ended the interview.
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Backlash in Washington
The reaction in and around DC was swift and quite negative toward the Russian hockey legend. Republican lawmaker Joe Wilson urged the NHL to consider banning Ovechkin.
When asked if he understood why an American politician was calling for banning him from playing, Ovechkin answered by saying, “Well, everybody have their own opinion, right? I’m not a politician, I’m an athlete, and, how I said, I’m gonna live there when I’m done playing. I support my country. Like, I’m Russian.”
General manager Chris Patrick appeared to be upset with Ovechkin for appearing in an ad for the ruthless Russian dictator. Patrick was blindsided by the ad and said he would not be standing there answering those questions if Ovechkin had run the idea by the team first.
Still, Patrick tried to express sympathy for his star player. “All we can do now is try to support him,” Patrick told ESPN. “And he is a wonderful person. I know in certain areas right now, he’s being portrayed as a villain, but he really is a really big-hearted person.”
Blind patriotism
Former sports journalist Slava Malamud dismissed the Capitals’ general manager’s assessment of his captain, arguing that Ovechkin has always willingly backed the regime.
“It’s a cop-out,” Malamud said. “That is not an Ovechkin we have ever seen. We see a man who is proud of his president, who is standing next to war criminals.”
Malamud is a Russian-born sports journalist who claimed the Capitals nullified his press credential in 2014 after he criticized Alexander Ovechkin’s Instagram post where he held up a picture with the caption “Save Children from Fascism.” The picture was posted right around when Russia annexed Crimea.
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Ovechkin signed a one-year deal with the Capitals in the off-season, which is expected to be his last in the NHL. Malamud does not think it is a coincidence he agreed to star in Putin’s ad as his time playing abroad comes to an end.
