Getty Image / Jaylynn Nash / NHLI
Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs began on Tuesday night with both road teams, the Seattle Kraken and Florida Panthers, stealing the first games of their series.
This is the first time the Toronto Maple Leafs have made it out of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2004. Expectations and pressure are sky-high in Toronto after some fans believe they’ve broken their Playoffs curse.
After the Panthers beat the Leafs 4-2 in Game 1, ESPN’s top hockey analyst and former Norris Trophy winner PK Subban made a comment about Lizzo that has gone viral.
Longtime ESPN analyst John Buccigross made the comment that the Toronto Maple Leafs should “pack a lunch” ahead of Game 2. The suggestion is they should eat more before the game so they’d play with more energy.
PK Subban chimed in saying the Leafs “maybe need to pack a Lizzo sized lunch.” The suggestion here from PK Subban is that Lizzo is large and his comment quickly went viral on social media.
“Lizzo sized lunch”😭😭😭
P.K. SUBBAN IS WILD💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/VgqOQ0eXMd
— 𝙆𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙖𝘽𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖 (@dreamzz_kidd) May 3, 2023
‘PK Subban’ began trending on Twitter. Many people started calling out his comments:
Did PK Subban just say that the leafs need to pack a Lizzo sized lunch on ESPN
— Heatdaddy (@heatdaddy69420) May 3, 2023
Sis Pk Subban really just say “Lizzo sized lunch?” That’s… not acceptable. That’s fatphobic.
— Maya 🌸 (@OstrowskiMaya) May 3, 2023
“Maybe they need to pack a @lizzo sized lunch” a PK Subban 💀
Will there be blow back ? I say yes! pic.twitter.com/JTuDjFWCE0
— Chris Mancuso 🚀🚀 (@SeltzerKing_) May 3, 2023
Not everybody on Twitter seemed offended, however.
PK Subban’s joke about “Lizzo sized lunch” is funny. If you’re offended you need to get over your victim mentality and stop acting like a baby
— Brian Kelly, Kid Killer (@briankellykills) May 3, 2023
PK Subban attempted to explain his comment on Twitter but it wasn’t about people understanding the phrase, it was that he dragged Lizzo into the conversation out of nowhere:
Pack a lunch… lock in! Be ready to compete! Bring work boots! Expect that they are going to try and outwork you in hard areas! https://t.co/ontSKg0pfR pic.twitter.com/ArVioCqc2c
— P.K. Subban (@PKSubban1) May 3, 2023
Lizzo sized lunch was inappropriate and unprofessional.
— Christi Bowser (@christibowser) May 3, 2023
Maybe he meant ‘full of energy and puts on a great concert’ sized lunch?
Can you clarify what you mean by a Lizzo sized lunch?
— lindsey … (@leholmes52) May 3, 2023
Despite all of the outrage on Twitter, it doesn’t seem like anything will come of this, other than more angry tweets for a few days.
Prior to joining ESPN full-time as an analyst, PK Subban played 13 seasons in the NHL and earned over $78 million as one of the league’s best defenders.