On Monday, Canadian broadcaster Sportsnet fired legendary NHL commentator Don Cherry for comments he made concerning immigrants and fallen Canadian veterans while he was on air Saturday night.
The controversial comments? Cherry voiced his displeasure with people living in Mississauga and downtown Toronto not wearing poppy pins, which are meant to honor fallen veterans in the days nearing Canada’s Remembrance Day, which is in the same vein as the United States’ Memorial Day. As noted by The Washington Post, both areas of Toronto have large immigrant populations.
“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 of bucks for poppies or something like that. These guys paid for your way of life, that you enjoy in Canada,’” Cherry said on-air, teeing-up a segment for Remembrance Day.
Comment that got Don Cherry fired:
“People … come here, whatever it is, you love our way of life, you love our milk & honey. At least you can pay a couple of bucks for poppies .. These guys pay for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada. These guys pay the biggest price.” pic.twitter.com/QWoQPaiY47
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 11, 2019
“I know what I said and I meant it,” the colorful commentator told the Toronto Sun on Monday. “Everybody in Canada should wear a poppy to honor our fallen soldiers.”
“I speak the truth and I walk the walk,” he continued. “I have visited the bases of the troops, been to Afghanistan with our brave soldiers at Christmas, been to cemeteries of our fallen around the world and honored our fallen troops on ‘Coach’s Corner.’”
“To keep my job, I cannot be turned into a tamed robot,” Cherry added. – READ MORE