Hockey pundit Don Cherry fired by Sportsnet over xenophobic poppy rant

Longtime Canadian hockey pundit Don Cherry has been fired by Sportsnet for on-air remarks about what he believes are new immigrants not honoring the country’s fallen soldiers.

“Sports brings people together - it unites us, not divides us. Following further discussions with Don Cherry after Saturday night’s broadcast, it has been decided it is the right time for him to immediately step down,” Sportsnet president Bart Yabsley said in a statement on Monday. “During the broadcast, he made divisive remarks that do not represent our values or what we stand for.

“Don is synonymous with hockey and has played an integral role in growing the game over the past 40 years. We would like to thank Don for his contributions to hockey and sports broadcasting in Canada.”

The 85-year-old Cherry, who has been criticized in the past for his outspoken conservative politics, seemed to single out new immigrants in Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario, where he lives, for not honoring Canada’s veterans and dead soldiers. He said he didn’t see immigrants wearing poppies to honor the country’s fallen ahead of Remembrance Day.

“Forget it with downtown Toronto, nobody wears the poppy … You people who 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,” Cherry said on Saturday night’s Coach’s Corner segment on Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet’s flagship hockey telecast. “These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price.”

Both Yabsley and Cherry’s co-host Ron MacLean had apologized for the pundit’s comments in the days since the telecast.

The furor in response to Cherry’s comments was so vehement, the Canada Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) said in a statement on their website their technical processing capacities could not handle the quantity of complaints and would no be taking any more.