P.E.I. police service sorry for ‘bullying’ Nickelback
Social-media joke about forcing arrested drunk drivers to listen to Alberta band went viral
KENSINGTON, P.E.I.— A small-town P.E.I. police department has issued a public apology to Nickelback and taken down a social media post that threatened to force drunk drivers to listen to the Alberta band’s music.
In a heartfelt Facebook post Friday, a Kensington police officer said that after the “joke” post went viral, he began to feel like a bully.
“I am sorry to (band members) Chad, Ryan, Mike and Daniel. Not as just members of Nickelback, but more importantly as fellow Canadians. I’m sorry guys because I didn’t take a moment to think of you AS just guys,” the officer said.
“How would I tell my son he was wrong for picking on a kid in the playground when I was doing the same thing, but I was doing it not on the local playground, no, I was doing it on a global scale to a global audience.”
Friday’s post was unsigned, but Const. Robb Hartlen last weekend shared a social-media post promising to force any drunk drivers to listen to the Alberta band while in the back seat of a cruiser.
“So please, let’s not ruin a perfectly good unopened copy of Nickelback. You don’t drink and drive and we won’t make you listen to it,” Hartlen said then.
In Friday’s post, though, the officer said a message meant to deter drunk drivers instead made a charity-minded Canadian band — he particularly mentioned its response after the Fort McMurray wildfires — the butt of jokes around the world.
“I was sure a hugely successful band would be fine with a little goodwill shade thrown their way, after all it’s for a good cause. But the more successful the post became, the less the ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’ message was mentioned and the fact we love or love to hate Nickelback took centre stage,” he wrote.
“And that prompted me to think less about Nickelback as the ‘entity’ and more about the four guys, four human beings from Alberta who were dragged into this international story. And the more I thought about that, the less funny the humour seemed.”
He said he reached out to the band’s four members and their families and all agreed it best to take down the original post.