Don Cherry Fired by SN - Poll Added

[Poe969]

Collapsed 100 times, he's taking it way worse than TJ... so glad cherry was let go, he should have been a long time ago and I think SN was just waiting for a chance to move on from him. I hope they have more headlines and speculation, just hockey talk.

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by zamler

MacLean says he collapsed 100 times? What?

I read it as collapsed in emotion or sadness not a physical collapse and his 100 times was likely a hyperbole. AKA, he’s been an emotional wreck this entire week processing everything that had happened, the part he had in it, and in hindsight what he wished he did differently.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

he and he should have been able to go on the air and clarify his words.

He was given the chance to do this and he refused.

[Beatle17]

Originally Posted by FurnaceFace

I read it as collapsed in emotion or sadness not a physical collapse and his 100 times was likely a hyperbole. AKA, he’s been an emotional wreck this entire week processing everything that had happened, the part he had in it, and in hindsight what he wished he did differently.

That was the worst CYA apology ever. Ron MacLean should be sitting at home with Cherry. 38 years working with the guy and he continues to throw him under the bus, another long winded "Oh woe is me" Ron MacLean story. He even tried to justify his nodding and thumbs up agreeing with Don as something else.

[Saqe]

Originally Posted by icecube

Nothing scratches the right wing white man's itch quite like a visible minority letting a bigot off the hook for bigotry. There's gonna be a whooooole lotta thanks coming on gull foss' post methinks.

A biggot calling others a biggot. Oh the irony.

Maybe the "left wing white man" should should grow a pair and realize that no one died of DC's words? People face real, big problems in the world. But this must really be scratching the itch of placing yourself on a higher moral pedestal.

Am I doing it right?

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by codynw

He was given the chance to do this and he refused.

That's not true, he said he wanted to go on to clarify his words, that he meant it differently then it sounded but wouldn't apologize out right as what he wanted to say was "everybody".

[codynw]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

That's not true, he said he wanted to go on to clarify his words, that he meant it differently then it sounded but wouldn't apologize out right as what he wanted to say was "everybody".

Source? Because I've seen multiple things pointing that he was given the opportunity to clarify and refused to do it. Most recently, Ron MacLean's statement saying something along the lines of "there were steps he needed to take, and he didn't want to take those steps" when addressing the issue on HNIC tonight.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by codynw

Source? Because I've seen multiple things pointing that he was given the opportunity to clarify and refused to do it. Most recently, Ron MacLean's statement saying something along the lines of "there were steps he needed to take, and he didn't want to take those steps" when addressing the issue on HNIC tonight.

What I believe I observed were things happening on different timelines

First 24 hours:
Flurry of online activity
Ron Maclean issued his company scripted apology immediately as he was on air the next day
At this point, Don had said he meant what he said. I had the impression he was mainly referring more to what he intended to say (more about the people not wearing poppies)

The next day, the interview where he was in his driveway, he showed more contrition and demonstrated the understand that people were taking issue with a few specific words. He also did mention that he would have done differently, and that if he has the opportunity to go back on Saturday and apologize he would

I observed
- online response operating at the speed of outrage culture
- Sportsnet opportunistically acting immediately
- Don figuring out the real heart of the issue after it was too late

When people hang their hats on “he said he meant it”, well, they are referring to a statement before his greater realization of what had happened. Kind of during the shock phase.

(and Ron Maclean’s statement is silent on the timelines, but you know Sportsnet had at best a take it or leave it offer for Don)

Not really surprising that an 85 year old didn’t keep up with the pace of online reactivity.

He comes from a time where things have time to cool down, but that’s not now.
Now is the age of social media, where sanctimony and moral grandstanding are available sometimes even before information.

[browna]

Originally Posted by codynw

Source? Because I've seen multiple things pointing that he was given the opportunity to clarify and refused to do it. Most recently, Ron MacLean's statement saying something along the lines of "there were steps he needed to take, and he didn't want to take those steps" when addressing the issue on HNIC tonight.

From what he said to the Sun the day after, Cherry wanted to clarify his word/phrasing on air this Saturday in his normal spot, but not immediately sign off on a statement released via Sportsnet that was pre-prepared for him the day after, just like MacLean did...he didn’t immediately then do what Sportsnet wanted him to, and got punted.
MacLean didn’t fall on the sword(his own words) and released his statement.
I understand why, as he explained it, but in the end his hesitance to say anything when he thought it sitting there last Saturday, and get Don to clarify right then and there, had a big part in Cherry getting the boot.

[Yamer]

Just watched McLean's address. Plucked a lot of strings.

Thanks, Ron. Beautifully said.

[curves2000]

What is this BS about choosing principle over friendship? People can disagree about a variety of topics and have events happen that forever change lives, yet still maintain a friendship.

Even the people who are most against what Cherry said can probably see that it wasn't the worst transgression ever. He may have crossed the line and framed his thoughts in poor taste but there wasn't a slur involved, there wasn't a physical or verbal altercation.

This was an 85 year old man who is passionate and has talked about the lack of poppy's on people before, this time he did single out some people as well but I don't think it was meant to cause the storm it did. This wasn't a hate fueled speech or anything, he was talking about several different things at once and in typical Cherry fashion, mixed everything into the bowl together and the end result wasn't very good.

In all the interviews Cherry has talked about how he is hurt and how Ron is still a friend and now we have Ron saying he choose principle over friendship. This whole thing stinks and Ron isn't doing a great job in my opinion. He pretty much summed it up as

1) Ron didn't see the trouble coming and for that he is sorry (Debatable but fair point)
2) He doesn't agree with what was said and felt the need to apologize needed to happen because of the uproar (fair point)

3) Don wasn't going to apologize despite needing to in order to keep the show and his job. Don choose on path and he choose another (fair point)

What I do think Ron should have said is that Cherry is an honest man, says what he means and cares passionately about hockey, children charities, the troops, the military, first responders etc etc.

We literally have decades of tapes and video of this man who has a big heart and has done a ton of great things in this world and countless tributes. He's honored people sometimes better than their government or their own teams or affiliation. He could have told what the vast majority of viewers have seen for years before their eyes.

Instead we get this about him being more principled, apologizing for in essence not referring the last show better, apologizing for not returning media calls and wondering out loud where Don is when he normally picks up the phone.

Great last " We honor Don Cherry on this last Coaches Corner" ohhh, and we love you.

Poor all around in my opinion.

[Reggie Dunlop]

I haven't been this traumatized by the abrupt disruption of Canadiana cultural iconography since Mr. Dressup callously fired Casey and Finnegan.

Chester the Crow and Lorenzo the Racoon sucked on that show. Add in the shabby dismissal of franchise legend Aunt Bird.

[zarrell]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

Most of the visible minorities i talked to were not offended. None of the visible minorities i talked to who watched don cherry growing up were offended. And I'm colored, so I know a lot of visible minorities. Do you know why we weren't offended? Because we took what he said the way he meant it, not the way he said it. Most of the visible minorities offended either dont watch hockey night in Canada, didn't watch don cherry growing up or are liberals living in outrage culture land.

The thing about being a visible minority is that you learn very quickly that what people say and how they say it is very different from who they are and what they mean. You learn to pick up on non-verbal body languages and see the nuances in their actions. I rarely judge how racist someone is by what they say or how they say it because how people talk and how they say things are often a byproduct of the era and location of when and where they've lived. A 24 year-old racist in 2019 is going to sound much less racist than an 85-year old non-racist.

I continue to believe that it's hard to come to the conclusion that don cherry is a racist when you put the rant into the context of:

1) previous don cherry rants
2) previous 85 y/o don cherry rants
3) all the charity work and community service don cherry does and has done in the past
4) the fact that no visible minorities in the NHL have ever said anything bad about him
5) the fact that there hasn't been a single instance of anyone colored every saying "I personally interacted with Don cherry and he's a bigot"

Don Cherry is a good guy (and a blow hard, loud mouth). He's not politically correct. He mispeaks. It happens. He didn't mean it the way it came out. It came out the way it did, he and he should have been able to go on the air and clarify his words.

Instead, a guy who has DECADES of showing us the quality of man he is through his action...who should have been able to go out on his own terms...was judged on his words that were taken out of the wider context and treated like garbage because of outrage culture.

It's a shame.

Thanked. And quoted so if you missed it go back and thank it.

[Brick]

Originally Posted by codynw

He was given the chance to do this and he refused.

He was willing to explain himself.

He refused to let them put words in his mouth.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

I haven't been this traumatized by the abrupt disruption of Canadiana cultural iconography since Mr. Dressup callously fired Casey and Finnegan.

Chester the Crow and Lorenzo the Racoon sucked on that show. Add in the shabby dismissal of franchise legend Aunt Bird.

We were discussing the other day - was Casey a boy or a girl?

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Brick

He was willing to explain himself.

He refused to let them put words in his mouth.

weirdly when I screw up at work and then don't go along with my bosses clean up plan I would get canned as well

[getbak]

Originally Posted by troutman

We were discussing the other day - was Casey a boy or a girl?

Yes.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...land-1.3184116

She said she purposely made the child androgynous, picking the name Casey, which could be either a girl or a boy name.

"I don't know whether the CBC thought about it, but I thought about it: half the audience are going to be girls, and half are going to be boys. I'd like to make a puppet that they can relate to, and that's why I picked the name," she said.

"Kids often said to me, 'Is Casey a boy or a girl?' and I'd say, 'Well, what do you think?' And if they said 'girl' I'd say 'yes,' and if they said 'boy' I'd say 'yes.'"

[hwy19man]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

I haven't been this traumatized by the abrupt disruption of Canadiana cultural iconography since Mr. Dressup callously fired Casey and Finnegan.

Chester the Crow and Lorenzo the Racoon sucked on that show. Add in the shabby dismissal of franchise legend Aunt Bird.

My cousins recall that and say the same thing about the Friendly giant too.

[Buff]

So Ron had almost 5 minutes of monologue but didn't actually say anything worthwhile. I honestly have no clue what he was trying to do with that time.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Brick

He was willing to explain himself.

That is not the same as an apology.

He refused to let them put words in his mouth.

I respect that Don Cherry is not willing to resort to platitudes, or to say things for mere pretence. If he did not feel as though he did anything wrong, then of course, any apology would be hollow and essentially meaningless.

But doesn't that just cast more light on the existing problem?

Holding to his convictions in a situation where he was demonstrably wrong and offensive is not something to be admired. Don Cherry's refusal to apologise, and his preference to "explain himself" seems to demonstrate that he doesn't even understand—nor can he appreciate—the weight of what he said, and why he should not have said it.