Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty leaned into his persona as a chaotic, slightly terrifying creature in a hilarious viral video that shows him chasing down a Pittsburgh fan.
The video, posted on the official ESPNTikTok account, shows the camera jumping back and forth between a woman in a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey running down a hallway and close-ups of Gritty’s face as he chases after her. The text on the video reads, “Helping a random Pittsburgh fan get home pt 1,” and the caption says, “Girl run faster” with a crying face emoji.
The comments are flooded with sentiments about how genuinely terrifying this hockey mascot is. One commenter wrote, “Being chased by Gritty would make a good horror movie,” and another said, “Five Nights of Gritty,” a reference to the horror franchise Five Nights at Freddy’s. One comment said, “God I love Gritty but I never want to be near him.”
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Ominously, although the video refers to itself as part one, no additional parts seem to have been posted, suggesting that Gritty might be ready to strike again.
While this might seem like odd behavior from the typical hockey mascot, this is very on-brand for Gritty, who was introduced in 2018 and quickly skyrocketed to internet stardom, with appearances on shows like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallonin the weeks following his shocking debut. Previously, the Philadelphia Flyers had no official mascot, save for the appearance of Slapshot, the team’s only other mascot, who existed for just one season, from 1976 to 1977.
Since his debut, Gritty has, of course, been present at Flyers games, but he has also kept a social media presence and had a range of public appearances, all while maintaining his unusual persona as a terrifying, unidentified monster who, evidently, will chase down fans of the opposite team if given the chance.
This story was originally published by Parade on Feb 16, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.