Penguins fans photoshop Gritty into random stock images to horrifying effect
If you've yet to fall head over heels for the Philadelphia Flyers' new mascot Gritty, it's time to open yourself up to love. The huggable orange monstrosity has captured the hearts, minds, and memes of sports fans everywhere since his emergence on Monday, blossoming into a viral sensation seemingly overnight. He's fuzzy and likes dancing. He doesn't know how ice works. He watches Always Sunny just like you and me. He is the greatest thing to happen to hockey since the nixing of the two-line pass and he deserves our collective and undying affection.
But if there's one cultural cesspool that will always refuse to accept Gritty for who he is—one fanbase who will stop at nothing to shine a light on his dark past—it's that of dreaded cross-state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. In an attempt to Milkshake Duck Gritty in almost record time, on Wednesday Steel City agitators Benstonium began photoshopping Gritty into previously Gritty-less stock images and the results, as you will see, are absolutely horrifying.
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This is textbook #FakeNews, of course. We all know Gritty is an upstanding citizen who separates his paper and plastics and always volunteers at the annual Thanksgiving can drive. But if even the great Ken Bone could be cast from his lofty perch, perhaps its worth pumping the brakes on the Gritty worship, at least until this whole thing blows over. Who knows what (literal) skeletons he has hiding in his closet...
