Oh HBO is going to have fun with this.

Here's Tom Sestito hitting Andre Deveaux from behind. Also, keep a close eye on the sucker punch Sean Avery delivers to Wayne Simmonds at the :25 second mark. That punch prompted pussy and faggot comments from Simmonds, both of which can be seen after the jump.

This summer, Avery endorsed gay marriage. So, whether Simmonds meant anything by his comment or not, this is going to turn into a big deal.

Simmonds calling Avery a pussy:

… and a faggot

Of course, Avery has been known to use racial slurs. Here's his former teammate, Alex Frolov, in April.

Thanks to reader Tyler for passing along: [NBC]

Q: Why does everyone hate Avery?
AF: It’s not hate, it’s… He has a specific role, he is a pretty unique man and he likes to do, let’s say, extravagant things. Sometimes they’d be bordering on the forbidden. He isn’t a fool. Lately he has become calmer, smarter. Before he’d get swept away with emotions and do something stupid. To mention each and every one of his stunts… Something always happens around him, it’s a part of his job. He needs to be talked about. He loves it, he feels at home in the spotlight. Sometimes he called opponents “black monkeys.” He did a lot of things, I can’t remember all of them. 

 

 

Here's Avery after the game. Quotes courtesy of the Flyers:

Q: Did he call you what we think he called you? 

“Well, yeah.”

Q: Is he going to say that there was anything as a precursor?

“I mean, I certainly hope not. Are you implying that it would be from something that I said?” 

No, I was just asking.   

“No, I mean from my end. I certainly wasn’t.”

Q: Are you familiar with what happened with him last week? 

“Yeah, it is really disappointing. First of all, who would do that? And why would you do it? It just such an unnecessary thing. It’s something that’s not even an issue with us or our sport. So to be here now and having to answer your questions about what he did is disappointing for me.”

Q: Do you feel like when someone does something like that they should be treated in a similar context  (inaudible)?

“I mean Kobe got fined 100 grand. Everything is different now. You know, it’s an issue. It is an issue that people are dealing with and trying to overcome. And I guess ten years ago, maybe it was not such an issue. But it is such an issue politically with people in the game and just in life in general.”

Q: Is there concern that you were kind of vocal with the video you did this summer that players will come back against you? 

“I mean, it has been said. It has been said for years. Whether I thought about it in that sense, I don’t know.”

Q: So, you think he just said it out of emotion?

“I can’t. I have no idea.”

Q: Would you like to see the league take a stand on this?

“That’s something that I’m not really going to comment on. First of all, me commenting on things like that, the backlash that I could receive is unknown and I don’t want to put the team in a situation where they would have to deal with something because of me wanting to see something happen. So, I’m not going to get into it.”

 

Race, homophobic slurs, fighting… HBO will have their hands full this winter.

Anothony Sanfilippo of the Delco Times did a nice job of putting all of this into context– this is par for the course with hockey players. Avery just happens to be a punk and talked to the media about it.

Videos via Ryan Lambert and (@ianhirsthermans)