Don Cherry says he has been fired from Hockey Night in Canada by Sportsnet.
And the legendary star of Coach’s Corner says he will not walk back what he said on Saturday.
“I have just learned I’ve been fired by Sportsnet for comments made on Coach’s Corner Nov. 9,” Cherry told me in a phone interview. “No problem.”
Cherry added: “I know what I said and I meant it. Everybody in Canada should wear a poppy to honour our fallen soldiers.”
And Cherry said his words were not racial or bigoted but patriotic and respectful of our troops.
Still, these comments prompted Sportsnet to axe Cherry.
Sportsnet already apologized on Sunday for Cherry’s comment about how new immigrants fail to wear poppies — and as a result, don’t support veterans. His Coach’s Corner co-host Ron MacLean also issued an apology.
“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,” Rogers said in a statement on Monday. “During the broadcast, he made divisive remarks that do not represent our values or what we stand for.”
Cherry said he was just expressing how he feels about the lack of people donning poppies.
“I speak the truth and I walk the walk,” he said. “I have visited the bases of the troops, been to Afghanistan with our brave soldiers at Christmas, been to cemeteries of our fallen around the world and honoured our fallen troops on Coach’s Corner.”
And it has been an honour to back the fighting men and women in uniform, he added.
Cherry said he would change none of it.
“To keep my job, I cannot be turned into a tamed robot,” said Cherry.
Still, he admits, being fired on Remembrance Day does hurt “because I would have liked to continue doing Coach’s Corner. The problem is if I have to watch everything I say, it isn’t Coach’s Corner.”
As he reflects on what just transpired, added Cherry, he won’t forget any part of his decades on the air.
“I want to thank everyone who has watched Coach’s Corner over the last 35 years,” he said.
But he does have one message he would like people to take from his situation:
“Remember to wear your poppy to honour our fallen soldiers … Thumbs up.”
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
