Don Cherry says Sportsnet made it 'impossible' for him to clarify his Coach's Corner comments, CBC, Nov 19, 2019
...Sportsnet apologized for the remarks, stating that his comments were discriminatory and offensive, and that they "do not represent our values and what we stand for as a network." His co-host, Ron MacLean, also apologized via Twitter, expressing regret for his actions and for allowing Cherry to make the comments. The NHL subsequently released a statement on Cherry's comments saying "the comments made last night were offensive and contrary to the values we believe in". Cherry later told the Toronto Sun that he would not apologize for his comments stating "I have had my say".

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) stated that its internal systems had been overloaded by a high number of complaints. Two days later, on November 11, Sportsnet president Bart Yabsley announced that Cherry had been fired: "Following further discussions with Don Cherry after Saturday night's broadcast, it has been decided it is the right time for him to immediately step down."[58] Speaking to the Toronto Sun, Cherry commented, "I know what I said and I meant it. Everybody in Canada should wear a poppy to honour our fallen soldiers... I would have liked to continue doing Coach's Corner. The problem is if I have to watch everything I say, it isn't Coach's Corner."[59] He later said that if he had to do it again, he would have said "everybody".

Accolades: On November 14, 2005, Cherry was granted honorary membership of the Police Association of Ontario. Once an aspiring police officer, Cherry has been a longtime supporter of the police services. In his own words, "This is the best thing I've ever had." In June 2007, Cherry was made a Dominion Command Honorary Life Member of the Royal Canadian Legion in recognition of "his longstanding and unswerving support of ... Canadians in uniform". In February 2008, Cherry was awarded the Canadian Forces Medallion for Distinguished Service for 'unwavering support to men and women of the Canadian Forces, honouring fallen soldiers on his CBC broadcast during 'Coach's Corner' a segment of Hockey Night in Canada'.In 2004, Cherry ranked at number 7 on the CBC's miniseries The Greatest Canadian. Cherry remarked that he was "a good Canadian", but not the greatest Canadian, and that he was personally rooting for fellow Kingston resident, Sir John A. Macdonald.

Last Saturday, Sportsnet producers knew in broad strokes what Cherry was going to say, Globe Mail, Nov 15, 2019
...In fact, an executive who had overseen previous broadcasts, and other production-crew members who spoke to The Globe, noted that Cherry has chastised people for not wearing poppies during the Coach's Corner segments before Remembrance Day in previous years. The bulk of his comments during last Saturday's broadcast therefore would not have caused alarm and -- given the frenetic environment of a live-TV production -- may not have even been noticed by the crew. Coach's Corner is -- or was -- produced live, airing only in the East, during the first part of the Hockey Night double-header broadcasts. If there were three games in progress in the East, as there was last Saturday night -- the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Ottawa Senators were all seen in their home markets -- the segment would air live during the first intermission of the first game that wrapped up its first period. Then, as the other games individually entered their first intermissions, the segment would begin airing, on a time delay that could be anywhere from a split-second to many minutes. But it would not be produced all over again for another game in the East, no matter how delayed that game might be in concluding its first period. Even if Cherry's comments had been noticed, there may not have been much that could have been done in the moment. The seven-second delay had been removed in 2007, because it had little practical use except in cases where someone might use a readily identifiable racial epithet that needed to be deleted in a split-second.

The xenophobia was impossible to miss ( even if it was always guised in a defence of Canadian hockey), VanCourier, Nov 11, 2019
...Cherry constantly criticized European and Russian hockey players, but would go further than that: French Canadians were a regular target as well. Anyone that wasn't an English-Canadian was insulted and derided, unless they happened to conform to his vision of how hockey should be played -- then they were one of the good ones. Then there was the sexism, the climate change denial, and calling people who eat seal meat barbarians and savages. He railed against "left-wing pinkos" -- his definition of a "pinko" being anyone that isn't right wing. Yet, for some reason, those that want politics out of sports rarely took issue with Cherry. For the millennial audience that grew up with Don Cherry on TV every Saturday, it's been tough to reconcile the man that helped us become hockey fans with the man that continued to sit next to Ron MacLean every single year. As we grew older, our understanding of hockey and the world around us changed, but Cherry didn't change. He stayed the same. When Cherry ranted about immigrants on Saturday -- "you people that come over here" -- it was just a continuation of who he's been for decades. The only difference is that he didn’t couch his xenophobia in hockey terms as he has in the past and the backlash was severe. Much of that backlash came from the millennials that grew up watching Cherry and the resulting pressure forced an apology from Sportsnet and Ron MacLean, along with lukewarm and vague statements from the NHL and Hockey Canada, as wonderfully parodied from Russian Machine Never Breaks. So many people complained to the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council that it overwhelmed their server. The pressure was on: Cherry's comments were the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Cherry should have been let go years earlier, whether for one of his other controversial statements or because the audience of Hockey Night in Canada had passed him by, but this time Sportsnet and CBC couldn't just wait a week for the story to die down; this one wasn't going away.

Don Cherry's weaponization of poppy dangerously perverts Canada's national identity, CBC News Opinion, Nov 11, 2019
Coach's Corner is a Canadian institution, and since its inception more than 30 years ago, the Don Cherry and Ron MacLean tandem has arguably been the most important team of broadcasters to offer hockey commentary across the country. Their five-minute sermon on Saturday nights has come to punctuate our fevered hockey religion in a nation that still sees excellence in the sport as our raison d'etre. Household names, Ron and Don have created an unmistakable tableau of what it means to them to be Canadian. For Don Cherry, this is reflected by someone who plays a hard-nosed style of hockey that includes finishing your checks, dropping the gloves, and avoiding the sin of deflecting pucks with an outstretched stick while attempting to block a shot. These were messages that I remember being parroted by my coaches in junior select hockey as a kid in Toronto. The impact of Cherry and his Rock 'em Sock 'em philosophy was evident in practically every arena across Canada. As his mystique and influence grew, so did his ability to use Canadian symbolism as a way of constructing a veneer of unimpeachable patriotism. It is why he always got a pass for being pugilistic, brash and discriminatory. However, through his persistent celebration of hard hits and concussions, his transparent disdain for Europeans, and now his latest diatribe that immigrants don't buy poppies, he has dangerously perverted the definition of our country's identity... Sportsnet, too, will attempt to distance itself from his comments, but will likely keep giving him the opportunity to be xenophobic, because viewership is more important than values. As Cherry's supporters mount the inevitable counterpunch to the accusation of cancel culture, we should recognize that the case against Cherry is decades in the making. This isn't a one-off. His increasingly unpopular opinions have served to divide rather than unite his audiences. He now represents a growing liability to his employers, while simultaneously representing a perpetually vanishing voice that threatens his relevance. Ultimately, we gather this week to pay homage to those who paid the greatest price for our freedom and country. Lest we forget. Our veterans.

Don Cherry fired by Sportsnet over 'you people' rant (Cherry, 85, had singled out new immigrants for not honouring Canada's veterans and dead soldiers), National Post, Nov 11, 2020
Sportsnet has confirmed that Don Cherry has been fired from Hockey Night in Canada over recent remarks that caused uproar. Cherry, 85, had singled out new immigrants in Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario, where he lives, for not honouring Canada's veterans and dead soldiers. "You people … you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that", Cherry said Saturday night on "Coach's Corner", a popular segment on Hockey Night in Canada. "These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price". In a statement issued on Twitter Monday afternoon, Sportsnet said that after discussions with Cherry, it had been decided that it was "the right time" for him to go. Cherry, however, is unrepentant, telling the Toronto Sun Monday that he meant every word he said....

The commentator's outburst sparked a swift backlash from the public, politicians and the National Hockey League. The league said in a statement that Cherry's remarks were "offensive and contrary to the values we believe in". Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie called his comments "despicable". "We're proud of diverse cultural heritage and we'll always stand up for it", she said on Twitter. "New immigrants enrich our country for the better. We're all Canadians and wear our poppies proudly". It emerged Monday that the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council had been so overloaded with complaints about the hockey commentator's rant that it hit the limit of the organization's technical processing capacity. "The CBSC has received a large number of very similar complaints concerning Coach's Corner broadcast on CBC (Sportsnet) on November 9, 2019, exceeding the CBSC's technical processing capacities", the CBSC said on its website. "Accordingly, while the CBSC will be dealing with this broadcast under its normal process, it is not able to accept any further complaints"... Cherry did not respond to phone calls by the Canadian Press seeking comment and has not publicly apologized....