{"id":61298,"date":"2019-11-11T15:47:18","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T20:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/?p=61298"},"modified":"2020-12-26T16:31:09","modified_gmt":"2020-12-26T21:31:09","slug":"hockey-night-in-canada-don-cherry-fired-by-sportsnet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2019\/11\/11\/hockey-night-in-canada-don-cherry-fired-by-sportsnet\/","title":{"rendered":"Hockey Night in Canada&#8217;s Don Cherry Fired By Sportsnet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to Joe Warmington of the Toronto Sun, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/cherrdo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Don Cherry<\/a><\/strong> of Coach&#8217;s Corner and Hockey Night in Canada has been fired by Sportsnet for comments made during Saturday&#8217;s broadcast.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">BREAKING- <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CoachsCornerDC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@CoachsCornerDC<\/a> has been fired by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sportsnet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Sportsnet<\/a> &#8211; story to come.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Joe Warmington (@joe_warmington) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joe_warmington\/status\/1193974618404655104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 11, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"no\">Statement from Sportsnet: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LRKrww0AQ1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/LRKrww0AQ1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sportsnet PR (@SportsnetPR) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SportsnetPR\/status\/1193983313272279040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 11, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Don Cherry&#8217;s Remarks<\/h2>\n<p>During his regular Coach&#8217;s Corner segment on Hockey Night in Canada, Don Cherry made remarks that were derogatory in nature about immigrants.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d44QlwurFbQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In the past Cherry has been criticized for his outspoken conservative politics, and his latest rant singled out new immigrants in the Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario area where he lives for not honoring Canada&#8217;s veterans and dead soldiers.\u00a0What got him in real trouble was the use of the word &#8220;you people&#8221; in referring to immigrants. He used the word after saying immigrants don&#8217;t buy poppies. Then went on to say that these same people live off the country and do not care about the people who fought for freedom.<\/p>\n<h3>Apologies Issued<\/h3>\n<p>The backlash was fierce on Twitter as many people called for Sportsnet to fire the commentator. There was a fire that needed to be put out with Rogers and NHL being TV partners. Both the NHL and Sportsnet issued statements apologizing for Cherry&#8217;s comments.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Don&#8217;s discriminatory comments are offensive and they do not represent our values and what we stand for as a network,&#8221; Sportsnet president Bart Yabsley said. &#8220;We have spoken with Don about the severity of this issue and we sincerely apologize for these divisive remarks.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Hockey is at its best when it brings people together,&#8221; the league statement said. &#8220;The comments made last night were offensive and contrary to the values we believe in.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>All eyes were on Rogers Hometown Hockey on Sunday prior to the start of the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/maple-leafs\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/blackhawks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chicago Blackhawks<\/a> game as Ron MacLean, host of Hockey Night in Canada issued his own apology for Cherry&#8217;s comments.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I have worked with Don for 30 years, and we both love hockey. But last night, I know we failed you. I see hockey as part of what unites us. I have the honour of travelling across our country to celebrate Canada&#8217;s game, and our diversity is one of our country&#8217;s greatest strengths.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ron MacLean (@RonMacLeanHTH) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RonMacLeanHTH\/status\/1193674011248644096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 10, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Warmington reached out to Cherry on Sunday evening to get a comment from Cherry. Cherry did not retract his statements standing by what he said in the interview. \u201cI have had my say,\u201d Cherry told Warmington.<\/p>\n<h3>The Legacy of Don Cherry<\/h3>\n<p>Don Cherry has been a part of Hockey Night in Canada since 1981. He spent most of his hockey career playing in the minors before coaching the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/bruins\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Boston Bruins<\/a> for five seasons from 1974 to 1979 and the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/devils\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Colorado Rockies<\/a> from 1979 to 1980. Cherry won the coach of the year in both the American Hockey League and the National Hockey League. There had been talk Cherry could head into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a broadcaster, with today&#8217;s developments that is no longer the case.<\/p>\n<h3>What&#8217;s Next<\/h3>\n<p>With Cherry removed from Hockey Night in Canada&#8217;s Coach&#8217;s Corner segment, the company will look to fill the first intermission time slot with something else. It will be interesting to see what direction they go in. If you are an avid watcher of the telecast, you know Brian Burke is right there to fill his shoes. Burke does a great job during the &#8220;On the Point&#8221; segment with David Amber during the first intermission of the late game. He could easily step right in with Ron MacLean.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2018\/03\/Don-Cherry.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<p>TORONTO, CANADA &#8211; APRIL 13: Hockey commentator Don Cherry does a television interview before the Tampa Bay Rays MLB game against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 13, 2015 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to Joe Warmington of the Toronto Sun, Don Cherry of Coach&#8217;s Corner and Hockey Night in Canada has been fired by Sportsnet for comments made during Saturday&#8217;s broadcast. BREAKING- @CoachsCornerDC has been fired by @Sportsnet &#8211; story to come. \u2014 Joe Warmington (@joe_warmington) November 11, 2019 Statement from Sportsnet: pic.twitter.com\/LRKrww0AQ1 \u2014 Sportsnet PR (@SportsnetPR) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3130,"featured_media":26107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,2],"tags":[1284,5738,4220,2569,955,4526],"class_list":["post-61298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-don-cherry","tag-hockey-news","tag-hockey-night-in-canada","tag-news","tag-nhl-news","tag-sportsnet"],"modified_by":"William Grigsby","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}