Hockey hall of famer Bobby Orr has spoken out about Don Cherry’s firing this week, calling it “disgraceful”, and saying he was disappointed in Cherry’s long-time co-host Ron MacLean.
In an interview with Boston radio station WEEI on Thursday, Orr, 71, said he knows Cherry better than anyone, and “he’s not a bigot and a racist.”
Cherry was Orr’s coach when he played with the Boston Bruins in the ‘70s, and the two have kept in touch ever since. In his 2013 autobiography , Orr said Cherry once visited his grandmother in Parry Sound, and said he deserved to be placed in the Hockey Hall of fame.
“This guy is the most generous and caring guy that I know, and what they’ve done to him up there is disgraceful,” Orr said on the show. “It’s a new world, I guess. The freedom of speech doesn’t matter.“
On Monday, Sportsnet fired 85-year-old Cherry from his longtime tenure as co-host of Coach’s Corner, for claiming on-air that immigrants don’t wear poppies and causing an influx of complaints to the network.
“You people … 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 Saturday. “These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada. These guys paid the biggest price.”
In an interview with the Toronto Sun , Orr criticized Sportsnet and MacLean, who nodded along to Cherry’s rant and gave a thumbs-up on air, but later apologized and said it was “hurtful and discriminatory.”
Sportsnet released a statement saying Cherry’s comments were offensive and do not represent the network’s values.
“To throw him under the bus like this is wrong,” Orr told the Sun. “And for his partner to do it as well. Shame on him.”
Orr told the radio stations he’s been checking in on Cherry “every day”, and said he is going to be fine.
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