NEW YORK - Evgeni Malkin, the Russian hockey player whose NHL rights are owned by the Pittsburgh Penguins, made a surprise appearance at the United Nations today. Malkin allegedly barged into a Security Council meeting dealing with the cease fire in Lebanon and delivered a thirty minute harangue against the “reactionary forces and bourgeois elements conspiring to prevent the Isle of Capri group from obtaining the slots license in Pittsburgh.” According to witnesses, Malkin demanded U.N. funding for a new hockey arena in Pittsburgh. He also called U.N. Secretary General Koffi Annan “a jerk, a stooge, and a lackey of imperialism.”
Malkin, who has been in seclusion since abandoning his Russian team in Finland last week, reportedly objected to remarks made by Secretary General Annan about the propriety of dealing with arena funding “when the lives of so many people depend upon securing a lasting peace in Lebanon.” Malkin, who graciously consented to fill the Russian seat on the Security Council while the Russian Ambassador kept a dentist appointment, immediately jumped to his feet. Removing his ice skate, he repeatedly pounded his skate on the table in an attempt to disrupt the proceedings. Malkin shouted that the Penguins needed a new arena to remain competitive, adding that if the U.N. refused to provide the financial assistance needed for construction “we will bury you.”
The volatile Malkin, known for his brusque, abrasive language and crude, peasant demeanor, has threatened to place nuclear missiles in Cuba “should the Penguins be forced to relocate due to the inaction of so-called Western Pennsylvania political leaders.”
Penguins owner Mario Lemieux issued a statement yesterday disavowing Malkin’s remarks, adding that “the last thing this franchise needs is the bad publicity associated with an international incident.”
