NHL broadcaster Don Cherry was fired from Sportsnet on Monday after making negative comments about immigrants in Toronto, Canada.
During Saturday’s broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada, Cherry, 85, criticized Canadian immigrants for not celebrating Remembrance Day on Nov. 11, a holiday that countries of the British Commonwealth have commemorated the armed forces since the end of World War I.
“Sports bring people together — it unites us, not divides us,” Sportsnet President Bart Yabsley said in a statement. “Following further discussions with Don Cherry after Saturday night’s broadcast, it has been decided it is the right time for him to immediately step down. During the broadcast, he made divisive remarks that do not represent our values or what we stand for.”
Statement from Sportsnet: pic.twitter.com/ah3twdx9po
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 11, 2019
Many Canadians honor the military personnel who have died fighting for their country by wearing small artificial poppies leading up to Remembrance Day and Cherry was disappointed with the number of people he saw partaking in the tradition.
“I live in Mississauga,” Cherry said on the show. “Nobody wears, very few people, wear a poppy. Downtown Toronto, forget it. Downtown Toronto nobody wears a poppy.”
“Now you go to the small cities and you know, the rows on rows. You people love — you, that come here, whatever it is — you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey. At least you could pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that. These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada. These guys paid the biggest price,” he continued.
A statement from @RonMacLeanHTH pic.twitter.com/DitYDB4HTO
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 11, 2019
Cherry’s longtime broadcast partner, Ron MacLean, apologized for not responding to the comment at the time, which he described as “hurtful, discriminatory” and “flat-out wrong.”
