Sportsnet has apologized after hockey commentator Don Cherry complained on national television that he rarely sees people he believes are immigrants wearing poppies ahead of Remembrance Day.
Sportsnet president Bart Yabsley says Cherry's comments are offensive and discriminatory.
Statement from Sportsnet: <a href="https://t.co/QZ76r9Y7sb">pic.twitter.com/QZ76r9Y7sb</a>
—@SportsnetPR
Yabsley says the network has spoken to Cherry about the severity of his comments.
The 85-year-old Hockey Night in Canada personality made the remarks during his weekly Coach's Corner segment, singled out new immigrants in Toronto and Mississauga, Ont., where he lives, for not honouring Canada's veterans and dead soldiers.
WATCH | Don Cherry in hot water over comments on Coach's Corner:
On Saturday night, Cherry's comments prompted a swift online backlash, with many calling for his firing.
The NHL weighed in a day later.
Statement from the National Hockey League regarding Don Cherry’s comments Saturday night: <a href="https://t.co/zt57sLy5Fa">pic.twitter.com/zt57sLy5Fa</a>
—@PR_NHL
Cherry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Attention <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachsCornerDC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CoachsCornerDC</a>, Don Cherry. (Photo:<a href="https://twitter.com/HkyNightPunjabi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HkyNightPunjabi</a>) <a href="https://t.co/y9fTDPjtIQ">pic.twitter.com/y9fTDPjtIQ</a>
—@SimonDingleyCBC
The show is still broadcast on CBC in a sub-licencing deal with Rogers Media, which owns Sportsnet. But the show is run by Sportsnet and filmed in its studio in the CBC building in Toronto.
'Cherry's remarks were ignorant and prejudiced'
"As Rogers Media is the national rights holder for NHL Hockey in Canada, CBC has no purview over any editorial [choice of commentators or what they say] with respect to Hockey Night in Canada," CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson said in an email.
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie called Cherry's comments "despicable."
For <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachsCornerDC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CoachsCornerDC</a> to say that “you people” do not respect 🇨🇦 or our veterans is despicable. We’re proud of diverse cultural heritage and we‘ll always stand up for it. New immigrants enrich our country for the better. We’re all Canadians and wear our poppies proudly.
—@BonnieCrombie
Former Liberal MP and previous Ontario Premier Bob Rae also weighed in.
"Cherry's remarks were ignorant and prejudiced, and at this point in our history can't go without comment."
Poppies are sold every year starting on the last Friday in October until Remembrance Day on Nov. 11 by The Royal Canadian Legion to raise money in support of veterans and their families.
Among the online responses was one from Paula Simons, an independent senator from Alberta.
She wrote that it has not been her experience that new immigrants don't wear poppies or appreciate the tragedies of war, and further condemned the sentiment behind Cherry's remarks.
"We don't honour the sacrifice of those who died in battle by sowing division or distrust," Simons wrote.
Rumours circulated about the possibility of Cherry being cut from Coach's Corner earlier this year after a Toronto Sun columnist wrote that his return to the show had not been confirmed by the summer.
Cherry said at the time that he was not retiring from the decades-old show yet.
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November 11, 2019 at 12:08AM
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