Sportsnet finally fired Don Cherry but the real test is what happens next
Late Saturday night, Coach’s Corner commentator and hockey institution Don Cherry went off on a toxic, anti-immigrant rant during his Hockey Night in Canada segment. In his baseless screed, Cherry targeted Toronto’s immigrant population for what he saw as a lack of support for the country’s veterans.
“You people that come here, love our way of life, love our milk and honey,” Cherry said. “At least you could pay a couple of bucks for poppies or something like that. These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada.”
Cherry has long been known for his inflammatory rhetoric, but his comments on Saturday, while not so different from what he’s said in the past, were the final straw. On Monday afternoon, Sportsnet, the network that employs him, announced that they had decided to part ways with the man many refer to as “Grapes.”
Following further discussions with Don Cherry after Saturday night’s broadcast, it has been decided that it is the right time for him to immediately step down. During the broadcast, he made divisive remarks that do not represent our values or what we stand for.
And yet, Cherry’s firing, which seems to have been a long time in the making, doesn’t feel like much justice at all. For a long time, Cherry’s behavior has been deemed problematic and insulting, yet he has continued to enjoy a national platform. For decades, Cherry has been able to hide under the banner of populist hero and suffer little to no consequences for his divisive, racist rhetoric. It is not really justice if it arrives a few decades too late.
Who knows what finally forced Sportsnet’s hand in these matters, but it’s a good bet it wasn’t just moral outrage. Like it or not, Cherry is still a popular figure in Canadian media and does represent a large chunk of the Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada fan base.
Men like Don Cherry don’t get fired because networks finally grow a conscience, but because the bottom line starts to shift. As the NHL tries desperatly to attract new, diverse fan bases, the Don Cherrys of the culture need to move or be moved out of the way. Firing Cherry is, if anything, more a good business decision than anything else.
“I know what I said and I meant it,” Cherry told the Toronto Sun about leaving Sportsnet. “Everybody in Canada should wear a poppy to honour our fallen soldiers…I speak the truth and I walk the walk…I cannot be turned into a tamed robot.”
It’s clear that Don Cherry was never going to change, and it was folly to think so. There was going to be no magical reckoning or moment of enlightenment from him, just the regurgitation of the same old talking points about “good Canadian boys” and the rest of the outside world. As Sportsnet pointed out in their release, Cherry was synonymous with hockey and the stringent, narrow culture it represented.
If there’s a silver lining here, it’s that more hockey fans are less willing to dismiss this kind of old guard, everyday racism and that they’re willing to prove it with their pocket books.
Don Cherry getting fired is a good first step in the right direction, even if Sportsnet had to be dragged there. With Cherry gone, is Hockey Night in Canada ready for a new, diverse voice that speaks for a new, diverse fan base? Or will it be more of the same old boys club? What happens next will be the real litmus test on how far hockey as a sport is willing to move in a new direction.