Opinion: Don Cherry's popularity with his fans couldn't save him this time from anti-immigrant remark

Hockey Night in Canada’s Coach’s Corner with Don Cherry has always been must-see TV in the hockey world. Players, reporters, fans and everyone else in the hockey world gathered in front of the TV between periods to hear what might come out of Cherry’s mouth.

They could never be sure whether it would be poignant or cringe-worthy.

“He’s that old-school guy with a diehard passion for the game and for Canada,” said former NHL player Tom Laidlaw. “If he was in the arena, you wanted to see him. He was a celebrity. And when we were in Canada, we gathered around the TV when he was on because it was a thrill to say something good about you.”

The problem was that the same Cherry who could grow emotional telling a story about a severely injured youth player or about soldiers playing road hockey in a war zone could also make comments that sometimes came across as xenophobic.

His 34-year run on Coach’s Corner ended Monday when he was fired, two days after he made a racist remark accusing immigrants of not observing the Canadian tradition of wearing poppies to honor Canada’s military heroes.

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"You people ... 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.”

His network and the NHL both came out with strong statements against what Cherry had said.

Cherry was regularly uncomplimentary of how some European players played the game. He also once referred to Winnipeg Jets assistant coach Alpo Suhonen as “some kind of dog food.”

He liked tough hockey and didn’t appreciate guys who put on visors because he didn’t think they respected the game’s tradition. He thought visor wearers played with their sticks up.

“Most of the guys that wear them are Europeans and French guys,” he said.

Cherry always said what he thought, regardless of consequences. He called Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby a “hot dog” because he didn’t like him sliding on his knees to celebrate a goal. He didn’t like Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin’s celebration after he scored his 50th goal.

His conservative politics often mixed into his show, particularly when it came to his support of the Canadian military and his disbelief of climate change. In 2003, he said he was supportive of the invasion of Iraq and heavily criticized Montreal Canadiens fans for booing the American anthem.

Cherry’s supporters have taken note that it seems particularly cruel that Cherry was fired on Canada's Remembrance Day.

It wasn't a mystery why Cherry kept his job in the face of much controversy. In 2004, CBC television held a vote to determine the greatest Canadian ever and Cherry finished seventh, four spots behind Pierre Trudeau and three spots ahead of Wayne Gretzky.

Toronto Star columnist Bruce Arthur called for Cherry to be fired after Saturday’s comment. But he also said Cherry is “as close as we have to a high priestess in hockey in a country that is obsessed with hockey.”

“(Cherry) connects very well with a segment of Canada’s population: the Caucasian middle- or upper-middle-class adult English-speaking male who likes tough sports,” Eloy Rivas Sanchez, a professor of sociology and anthropology at Carleton University, told USA TODAY Sports. “And he connects to them for a reason: This segment of the population is part of a generation of immigrants who do not think of themselves as immigrants. This part of the population believe that Canadian history began after their ancestors arrived during the European settlement.”

Rivas Sanchez said Cherry isn’t representative of a typical Canadian.

“Don Cherry has outspoken manners; he dresses in a flamboyant way; his political views are conservative; he is judgmental of people’s looks and ways of life, and very opinionated,” Rivas Sanchez said. “So, he pretty much represents the opposite of what a ‘regular’ Canadian is about.”

Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons told USA TODAY Sports before Cherry's firing that Cherry was a “miracle of modern media.”

“Everything in the world has changed and Don Cherry (remained) the same on Saturday night, hugely popular, mostly beloved, the man a country has gotten used to tuning into every Saturday night. He is predictable and occasionally offensive and sometimes racist but definitely old school, but he brings in viewers and brings in advertising.”

Simmons also called for Cherry to be fired.

Arthur said Cherry “has never been bigger than the game but at times it felt like he was.”

“He was part of our national furniture,” Arthur said.

It seemed like Cherry was bulletproof until Monday when the decision was announced that he was being removed.

Laidlaw said Cherry once said a complimentary remark about him on Coach’s Corner and Laidlaw’s father told him how proud he was to hear that on Hockey Night in Canada.

“I didn’t even tell me on the phone. He waited until he saw me next to tell me. That’s how important it was to him,” Laidlaw said.

Before Cherry was let go, Arthur predicted his dismissal would spark a national conversation.

 “It will be a cultural war conversation now, not just a hockey conversation,” Arthur said. “We sailed past that a long time ago.”

 Said Laidlaw: “He doesn’t sit on the fence. People are going to miss that.”