CHERRY LAUNCHES PODCAST.

Don Cherry is back with a new show, a podcast called the Grapevine, which aired its first episode Tuesday morning.

The show comes after Cherry was fired by Sportsnet for addressing what was interpreted to be new immigrants on Nov. 9 as “you people” and criticizing them for not buying and wearing Remembrance Day poppies.

Sportsnet said it was “the right time for him to immediately step down.” And with Cherry’s firing, his former Hockey Night in Canada sidekick Ron Maclean announced on Saturday that Coach’s Corner is “no more.”

“Evidently I said something and everybody knows what I said, and I offered to explain ... not an apology, but I was going to smooth it over. They made conditions that made it impossible for me to do it. I just couldn’t do it. And I guess I bite the bill, bite the bullet, and I don’t know what else to say,” said Cherry on his debut podcast.

“I said what I said. I still say, and I still think, that everybody in Canada should wear a poppy . ... And evidently, I said something that upset Sportsnet, and they canned me, and now I’m unemployed, except for doing this beautiful podcast.”

Cherry, 85, was asked by his son Tim, who served as co-host, whether people contacted him after Coach’s Corner, to which he responded, “I don’t want to get them in trouble. But a lot of guys phoned me, a lot of hockey players phoned me, a lot of general managers phoned me ... The way I feel about it, the policemen are with me, the servicemen are with me, the Armed Forces are with me, and the firemen are with me. They’re pretty good guys to have in your corner.”

The Royal Canadian Legion’s Twitter account had previously shared a different opinion on whether they stand with Cherry.

Cherry expressed that “it’s a funny thing” that people didn’t mention the positive stories he was sharing on his last Coach’s Corner, instead they focused on “two little words (that) just seemed to set everybody off,” adding that “That’s the way life is. I lived in a vicious world, and I lasted 38 years, happy to be there for 38 years, and if I got to go, I’m glad that I’m going out on my shield.”

Tim later mentioned that his father’s exit from the show is a product of “cancel culture,” and they “had their eyes set on you, they had their guns set on you, I think this year for sure. I think there was a lot of fake outrage. That’s fine and that’s what happened.”

In this week’s episode of the Grapevine, which is available on Spotify and will air on Mondays during the hockey season, Cherry spoke about Maurice “Rocket” Richard, while also playing an interview he had with the Montreal Canadiens star in 1984.