Cherry made a stupid comment, again, but let's respond to what he actually said which did not include any remarks about the colour of anyone's skin. Don't become Peter Mansbridge and make it about something he did not say.
Sure, Cherry didn't directly talk about the colour of anybody's skin. But how would Cherry infer whether somebody is not originally from Canada if not by taking the colour of their skin into account? And if we was just referring to everybody who doesn't wear a poppy, then why would the comment be stupid at all? It would have been fine calling out the whole population of Canadians not wearing poppies.
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Sure, Cherry didn't directly talk about the colour of anybody's skin. But how would Cherry infer whether somebody is not originally from Canada if not by taking the colour of their skin into account? And if we was just referring to everybody who doesn't wear a poppy, then why would the comment be stupid at all? It would have been fine calling out the whole population of Canadians not wearing poppies.
Exactly this. And this has already been talked about several pages back and people aren’t scrolling back to read the whole thread.
I suspect a few pages from now someone else is going to bring up the whole freedom of expression silliness again.
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Originally Posted by Hockey Fan #751
The Oilers won't finish 14th in the West forever.
Eventually a couple of expansion teams will be added which will nestle the Oilers into 16th.
mmm I don't think anyone is saying it's not a stupid thing to say. But was it severe enough to get him fired for, that's the question.
And freedom of speech isn't limited only by going to jail. It's limited first by the cost of saying things getting bigger. Don Cherry lost his job which he obviously hadn't lost before. What's next and where does it stop?
We sign contracts when we work. I have the freedom to wear sneakers but it's a fireable offense at work.
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Watching the Oilers defend is like watching fire engines frantically rushing to the wrong fire
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I haven't followed the debacle but were any networks actually talking about this or putting pressure on SN? Did it make the news cycles on Saturday night or Sunday? They are all talking about it now because Cherry was fired.
You bet they were talking about this on their late Saturday/Sunday news broadcast. I doubt there was any pressure at all on SN as it’s likely they were all over reporting negative news about an incident involving a rival TV network conglomerate
I think they’ve already cleared Saturday’s news as I can’t find it archived, but here’s what I found posted on Sunday morning news from Global and City tv:
People need to stop calling this a 'Free Speech' issue.
He was employed by a company who chose to fire him because they believe he stepped over the line of what they believe is reflective of their company.
if he feels he has a case for wrongful termination, there'll be no shortage of lawyers willing to take on his case pro bono for the media coverage it would generate.
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I’m sure SN was just waiting for this opportunity. Kudos to don cherry for likely telling that sad sack of a network to stick it when they asked him to apologize for saying something that I’m sure he continues to believe was needed in support of Canadian veterans.
There’s a lot of righteous internet warriors out there who would pee their pants in the face of a real battle for freedom. Don will be missed on HNIC.
Nobody has the guts or courage to take his spot. We will just get some more insider rumours garbage to fill the time
I’m sure SN was just waiting for this opportunity. Kudos to don cherry for likely telling that sad sack of a network to stick it when they asked him to apologize for saying something that I’m sure he continues to believe was needed in support of Canadian veterans.
There’s a lot of righteous internet warriors out there who would pee their pants in the face of a real battle for freedom. Don will be missed on HNIC.
Nobody has the guts or courage to take his spot. We will just get some more insider rumours garbage to fill the time
this made me LOL
"Don Cherry, Freedom Fighter for Freedom"
yeah, all the "internet warriors" have been livid with Cherry for his decades of supporting the military...
I’m sure SN was just waiting for this opportunity.
I’m not sure they truly were looking for an excuse to can Cherry, otherwise they would’ve executed that firing within hours or even the next day to mitigate the backlash SN faced
I’m still with the belief they gave Cherry every opportunity to apologize and backdown from his comments
This was likely Cherry's swansong season anyways. Now he won't get the extended, formal retrospective going-out tribute that Bob Cole received.
Sportsnet is in the business of attracting new eyeballs and are turning towards younger, more ethnically diverse demographics. "Hockey is for Everyone" is the philosophy of the day and an octogenarian going on about the Original Six fifty years later isn't going to catch their imaginations.
I’m not sure they truly were looking for an excuse to can Cherry, otherwise they would’ve executed that firing within hours or even the next day to mitigate the backlash SN faced
I’m still with the belief they gave Cherry every opportunity to apologize and backdown from his comments
I think Cherry has been inches from being canned before, based on his comments on French players, European players and coaches, etc. And this year there was talk he wasn’t getting a contract renewal (and a resulting outcry from his supporters). He’s been on 7 second delay before, too. Off air, his comments about “pinkos” at Toronto City Hall at Rob Ford’s inauguration probably didn’t help.
It’s clear though, that he was given a chance to backtrack and he didn’t at all, so this is the result. I’m sure he feels like a martyr for whatever cause he thinks he’s promoting.
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Firing him was the right move. It should have happened quietly years ago, and everyone who has watched Coaches Corner in the past knows Don Cherry is not a quiet man. He's brash, outspoken, and I don't think I've ever seen him change his stance on any hot take.
That's his character flaw unfortunately.
And as much as I respect him as an ambassador for hockey, for the Royal Canadian Legion and for Canada, I don't think his argument of 'us' and 'them' is a fair take for Canada as a country.
What hurts me the most as a fan who grew up watching HNIC every Saturday is seeing all the people who, I can guarantee, have never seen a single segment of Coaches Corner take aim at him for one of his hundreds of crazy ramblings. If they did they would know:
- He is passionate
- He is patriotic
- He has the balls to voice his opinion
- He is senile as ****
Hell half the reason I watched Coaches Corner was to laugh, maybe agree, maybe disagree, but always end up saying "Hahaha that crazy old man"
Sorry grapes, you had a sour take on this one.
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I also want to say I am still a big fan of Don Cherry, but his comments were wrong and I was not raised to believe this as a Canadian growing up.
This is not the way we get new people coming to our country to be interested in the game of hockey, or to trust our country as a whole. While getting to know the doctor who removed my dad's tumour last May, it turned out he was a huge Calgary Flames fan, and a Chinese immigrant.
As hockey fans living in (or outside of) Canada, I would like to think we could at the end of the day cheer for the growth of hockey as a sport.
In the same hopes I have for Don Cherry to grow beyond this incident and learn, I also hope that people coming into Canada don't have to be fearful of separation into 'us' and 'them', but rather we can welcome them into our society by extending out a hand, maybe passing them a beer, and explain "So the 1st rule you have to know about hockey is that we don't cheer for the Oilers..."
