TORONTO -- Hockey broadcaster Don Cherry has suggested that he was given an opportunity to stay with Sportsnet after making widely derided comments about immigrants and poppies.
âI couldâve stayed on if I wanted to and knuckled under, and turned into a simp, but thatâs not my style,â Cherry said Monday night in an . âIâm unemployed now after 38 years. Itâs kind of strange to be unemployed, halfway through the season. And of all days Remembrance Day. Itâs sad.â
Cherry was fired Monday, nearly 40 years after he began working for âHockey Night in Canada,â as part of the fallout from Saturday nightâs broadcast.
During his âCoachâs Cornerâ segment, the 85-year-old Cherry claimed that immigrants do not wear poppies or support veterans.
"You people ⌠that come here, 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," he said. "These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price."
Since his firing, he hasnât elaborated on what he could have done to remain at the âCoachâs Cornerâ desk, but told Newstalk 1010 that âthereâs no doubt about itâ that he could have kept his job.
âIf I had gone on and said a few things and done a few things, I definitely would have been back,â he said. âIf youâre not going to be yourself on television, then whatâs the sense in doing it?â
His remarks, which are the latest in a decades-long string of controversial comments from the popular commentator, were widely criticized. Sportsnet network president Bart Yabsley called Cherryâs comments âdiscriminatoryâ on Sunday and announced Monday that he would be no longer be on air.
âFollowing further discussions with Don Cherry after Saturday nightâs broadcast, it has been decided it is the right time for him to immediately step down,â Yabsley said in a statement. âDuring the broadcast, he made divisive remarks that do not represent our values or what we stand for.â
Yabsley also thanked the 85-year-old Cherry for âhis contributions to hockey and sports broadcasting in Canada.â
CHERRY SOUNDS OFF
Speaking to Newstalk 1010âs Barb DiGiulio, Cherry referred to his comments as âone little slip,â and referenced âall the guys that have goneâ in the entertainment business.
âIt is the most toughest business in the world,â he said. âYou make one little slip and youâre gone. After 38 years, which is kind of tough to do, but you got to be tough in this business. You canât whine about it. Youâre gone, youâre gone.â
Cherry attempted to clarify his remarks in interviews Monday, saying that he did not single out visible minorities. His comments have widely been interpreted as singling out new immigrants. He specifically mentioned the cities of Toronto and Mississauga, Ont., both of which have visible minority populations of over 50 per cent, and contrasted them to smaller towns, which are predominantly white.
"I did not say minorities, I did not say immigrants. If you watch 'Coach's Corner,' I did not say that. I said 'everybody.' And I said 'you people,ââ he told The Canadian Press.
Elaborating on Newstalk 1010, he said his comments were meant to refer to âeveryone.â
âYou make one little comment like âyou peopleâ and you know how it picks up,â he said. âIt could have been anybody. It could have been the Irish, it could have been Scots, it could have been English.â
Cherry stands by his remarks. âThatâs the way I feel and Iâm not changing it and I donât regret a thing,â he said on Newstalk 1010.
âI still feel that everybody in this country that likes our way of life -- these beautiful people gave their lives in their 20s and in their teens for our way of life -- they should wear a poppy. If thatâs offensive, then thereâs nothing I can do about it.â
Cherry said nobody said anything about the comments to him before he left the studio Saturday night, and it wasnât until Sunday that he caught wind of any dissatisfaction from Sportsnet heads. âSunday I knew they were unhappy, but today was the day they lowered the boom,â he said Monday.
Ron MacLean, the longtime co-host who flashed a thumbs-up sign at the end of Saturdayâs segment, apologized Sunday for staying silent during Cherryâs remarks.
Cherry told DiGiulio that he stills considers MacLean a friend, though he wasnât happy to see the apology. âThe only thing I can say about that is Iâm disappointed. I think anybody that knew Ron was disappointed. Thatâs all Iâll say about that,â he said.
Asked what he would be doing next Saturday night, Cherry said that he would âbe sitting, having a couple of beers, watching and wondering whoâs going to be on at the end of the first period.â
PUNISH OR PRAISE
Cherryâs comments were swiftly panned online, but also received some support, with the hashtags âDon Cherry Is Rightâ and âBoycott Rogersâ (the media group that owns Sportsnet) trending on Twitter in parts of the country Tuesday.
âNaturally, the guys that are for me and the women that are for me, they say âWay to go Don,â and the people that are against me, they took it the way they wanted to take it,â he said of his remarks.
âCoachâs Cornerâ has been a fixture for more than 30 years during intermissions on âHockey Night in Canadaâ broadcasts. CBC produced the show until 2014, when it was taken over by Sportsnet. CBC, which still airs the show but does not earn any revenue from it, issued a statement Monday saying the public broadcaster ârespect[s] Sportsnetâs decision that this is the right time for Don to step down.â
Cherry has periodically attracted controversy for making comments deriding Europeans, French-Canadians and people who ride bicycles. In 2003, his segment was placed on a seven-second delay after he criticized Canadaâs decision not to join the Iraq War.
Some hockey journalists were less surprised by Cherryâs firing than by his making it this long without losing his job.
âItâs been a long time coming, several decades in the making I would say,â said Ken Campbell, a senior writer with The Hockey News, on CTVâs Your Morning Tuesday. âThis was not an isolated incident. It wasnât a one-off transgression. It was a pattern of behaviour that weâve seen over the past 25, 30 years.â
For many, Saturdayâs comments seemed to be a bridge too far. The Canada Broadcast Standards Council to people to stop reporting Cherryâs comments to them, saying it had already received more complaints than it was able to process.
Parminder Singh, the original play-by-play announcer on the Punjabi-language edition of Hockey Night in Canada, said he considered Cherry an idol as he was growing up and once he entered the business.
He said he wants Canadians to understand that freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences, and that he wished Cherry had said something less divisive.
âItâs important for us to recognize that ⌠what weâre honouring, the veterans â they come from all different backgrounds and cultures,â he said. âIt should have been done in more of an embraceful manner.â
Several organizations that have traditionally supported Cherry issued statements Monday asserting agreement with his firing.
âWhile we recognize Don Cherryâs four decades of service broadcasting NHL games, todayâs decision was a justifiable response to his comments on Saturday night,â said the National Hockey League.
The Royal Canadian Legion said that it appreciates Cherryâs âpassionate support for veteransâ but found his remarks âhurtful,â while Budweiser â the parent company of âCoachâs Cornerâ sponsor Labatt â called them âclearly inappropriate.â