Don Cherry Screengrab via TSN
By Jay Rigdon on

Don Cherry went on a bizarre-though-on-brand-for-him anti-immigrant rant last night when discussing Remembrance Day poppies.

Cherry apparently believes immigrants are responsible for what he thinks is a lack of respect for Remembrance Day, traditionally commemorated by wearing a poppy pin. You can watch the screed here:

https://twitter.com/_eddierazo/status/1193335939700887552

The CBC wrote it up here, as well, with some context and some of the condemnation from Canadian politicians and fellow broadcasters:

The 85-year-old Hockey Night in Canada personality said on Saturday on his weekly Coach’s Corner segment that he’s less frequently seeing people wearing poppies anymore to honour fallen Canadian soldiers, and he singled out those he believes are immigrants in Toronto, prompting a swift online backlash.

“You people love, you that come here or whatever it is, you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that,” Cherry said. “These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price.”

Sportsnet issued an apology this morning:

Obviously that statement would seem to preclude much if any discipline for Cherry, as noted by some on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/1193567510769078273

At this point, it’s just clear that this is who Cherry is, this is what he thinks, and he’s going to continue to have a platform for it until he decides to retire. Cherry is 85 now, so that day can’t be far off at this point.

UPDATE: Ron MacLean, who was sitting next to Cherry during the rant and did not say anything, opened Hometown Hockey broadcast with an apology of his own, but without Cherry present.

[CBC]

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.

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