Mark Slapinski - June 25, 2025


Don Cherry Is Gone: The End Of An Era


Episode Stats

Length

9 minutes

Words per Minute

172.74069

Word Count

1,561

Sentence Count

159

Hate Speech Sentences

5


Summary

Don Cherry abruptly quit his podcast on Monday, giving his final goodbye to Canadians. He is 91, his health is failing, and it is understandable that he wants to quit the media business. Let s take a look at his statement.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 They're ticked off, they're ticked off, and I try to tell you this, they're ticked off at the foreigners coming over here earning the dough.
00:00:07.840 Canada has lost one of the great ones. You guessed it, Don Cherry.
00:00:13.040 Don Cherry abruptly quit his podcast on Monday, giving his final goodbye to Canadians.
00:00:18.200 He's 91, his health is failing, and it's understandable that he wants to quit the media business.
00:00:24.020 Let's take a look at his statement.
00:00:25.420 Well, Tim, this is our last show.
00:00:28.140 Yeah. How many podcasts have we done?
00:00:31.700 I don't know.
00:00:32.780 This is our 313th.
00:00:35.780 313th.
00:00:36.340 Yeah, we've been listening to all around the world. It's just amazing how many different countries, you know, people download and listen to it.
00:00:43.400 We've had 6.5 million downloads, which is pretty good.
00:00:48.260 How many?
00:00:49.800 6.5 million downloads.
00:00:51.700 That's an awful lot. Thanks, everybody, for listening, and toodaloo.
00:00:56.400 Don Cherry became famous in Canada for his sports commentary.
00:01:00.220 He did Hockey Night in Canada for over 33 years.
00:01:03.480 He was loud, opinionated, and as such, he was very controversial.
00:01:08.000 Let's take a look at some of his statements.
00:01:09.340 I'll be great. I'll be as great in politics.
00:01:12.660 Imagine me going down to Newfoundland, going down there.
00:01:16.980 What would happen?
00:01:17.760 I'd go down there and I'd say, look, vote me in, and I guarantee you, as I stand here, no foreign trawler would come in and touch one fish.
00:01:27.480 And foreign aid, if you want to get into that, here we've got people dying.
00:01:32.100 Here we've got people dying for want of beds, and we're giving money to the foreigners.
00:01:35.860 No way! It'd be Canada first, and Canada only.
00:01:39.840 Here's another controversial take.
00:01:41.480 Because I'm so aggressive on TV, and because my clothes are always so clean and neat, and the rope shoulders, eh, like, these are, the rope shoulders like this are usually for, uh, women.
00:01:53.640 And so they wrote in and said I was, uh, didn't say fag, they said homosexual, which I thought was nice, anyhow, so.
00:01:59.840 Unfortunately, Don Cherry's TV career was cut short in 2019.
00:02:03.860 This came after he gave an impassioned speech about wearing a poppy.
00:02:07.120 He was cancelled for making the statement, due to sensitive viewers in Canada.
00:02:11.480 You know, I was talking to a veteran, I said, I'm not going to run the poppy thing anymore, because what's the sense?
00:02:16.520 I live in Mississauga, nobody wears, uh, very few people wear, uh, a poppy.
00:02:21.940 Downtown Toronto, forget it, downtown Toronto, nobody wears a poppy.
00:02:25.540 And I'm not going to, he says, wait a minute, how about running it for the people that buy them?
00:02:30.460 Now, you go to the small cities, and you know, you, you know, those, the rows on rows, you people love, you, they come here, whatever it is,
00:02:38.360 you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you can pay a couple of bucks for poppies or something like that.
00:02:45.740 These guys pay for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada.
00:02:50.000 These guys pay the, uh, the biggest price.
00:02:53.060 Anyhow, I'm going to run it again for you great people, and good Canadians that bought a poppy.
00:02:58.240 I'm still going to run it.
00:02:59.300 Anyhow, I'd love you for it.
00:03:03.300 Here we are, November 11th, we're in Trelinkan British Cemetery in France, and, uh, November 11th, I want everybody to remember when you're buying a poppy and you see row after row of our Canadian dead here.
00:03:20.180 And I'm going to put here, we visited Thomas William McKenzie, Military Metal and Bar Canadian Field Artillery.
00:03:29.460 He died seven days before the end of the war, 27 years old.
00:03:34.460 So when you're walking by and you see our great legions, guys standing there, and they offer you a poppy, think of all this.
00:03:44.860 These guys gave their lives.
00:03:47.100 At least you can buy a poppy.
00:03:48.660 He refused to apologize for this statement, and his friend and longtime ally Ron McClain refused to defend him.
00:03:55.620 That's why I call Ron McClain the biggest loser in Canada.
00:03:58.760 Cherry started a podcast in 2019, not long after being let go.
00:04:03.400 He ran that podcast until this week when he abruptly quit.
00:04:07.000 Cherry loved this country, and he had more love for Canada than any politician in recent times.
00:04:12.560 Don Cherry was a relic of times past.
00:04:15.040 Believe it or not, there was a time where people were proud to be Canadians.
00:04:18.660 People were proud of their flags.
00:04:20.560 People remembered their veterans and the sacrifice they made during World War II and World War I.
00:04:27.780 Unfortunately, that's all gone now.
00:04:30.080 Of course, Don Cherry was loud and opinionated, but he came from a time where it was okay to have an opinion.
00:04:36.020 He came from a time where it was okay to be loud.
00:04:38.120 However, what we saw in 2019 is that things have changed.
00:04:43.180 It's no longer okay to have an opinion.
00:04:45.460 And if you have an opinion, and the left, the woke mob, does not like it, you can lose your career.
00:04:51.100 You can lose your livelihood.
00:04:52.740 You can lose everything.
00:04:53.720 However, Don Cherry is a winner, not a loser.
00:04:58.180 So after he was unfairly fired, instead of quitting, instead of sitting down, instead of taking it kind of like Ron McClain would in the similar situation, he decided to fight back and start his own podcast.
00:05:10.080 And his podcast did quite well.
00:05:11.940 They had millions of downloads, which shows that Don Cherry is a winner.
00:05:15.900 Now, the funny thing about Don Cherry being cancelled is nothing he said wasn't true.
00:05:20.620 Everything he said was true.
00:05:22.380 There's a lot of immigrants that come to Canada.
00:05:24.900 They want to live well.
00:05:27.100 They want our tax money.
00:05:28.580 But they refuse to understand or even learn our history.
00:05:32.220 They don't wear poppies.
00:05:33.280 They don't care about the sacrifices that veterans made during World War II.
00:05:37.980 All they care is coming here and getting free handouts and causing problems.
00:05:42.680 Don Cherry knew this was going to happen.
00:05:44.180 And that's why he sacrificed his career to call it out.
00:05:47.480 And that's why I commend him.
00:05:49.080 Personally, I think Don Cherry is a hero.
00:05:51.620 And I hope he enjoys his retirement and the rest of his life.
00:05:55.040 I wish him the best of luck.
00:05:56.380 I wish him good health.
00:05:57.860 And even after he passes, Canada will remember him as an icon.
00:06:01.700 A messenger of a time long past.
00:06:04.520 However, I like to be optimistic.
00:06:06.560 I think there's still hope for Canada.
00:06:08.980 Unfortunately, Canada would be on a better path right now if Canadians did the right thing.
00:06:13.820 And elected Pierre Polyev.
00:06:15.820 Unfortunately, they elected a different iteration of the Liberal government.
00:06:19.620 The same Liberal government we had before except with a different captain.
00:06:23.120 He was really the same captain because he was the one advising Trudeau.
00:06:26.520 But I still like to remain optimistic.
00:06:28.700 Eventually, we'll get Polyev into office.
00:06:30.900 And then Canada will get back on track.
00:06:33.200 To end off, I want to show you a relatively recent interview with Don Cherry.
00:06:36.500 Before we get into this, don't forget to like and subscribe.
00:06:38.880 It really helps me out.
00:06:40.760 Let's go.
00:06:41.760 Any advice for Prime Minister Carney today going down to see President Trump?
00:06:46.440 Oh, I've been following that pretty good.
00:06:50.720 He said he didn't know why he was coming.
00:06:53.280 He said, I guess he'd just come going down to see what's going on.
00:07:02.280 I think what Carney's going to say down there today is that if you don't want to do business,
00:07:09.100 we're going to do, Canada's going to do a different style of business.
00:07:12.780 He's made...
00:07:14.280 Well, he says he's gone.
00:07:16.160 We'll see what happens.
00:07:18.840 Well, these guys are master negotiators.
00:07:21.000 Oh.
00:07:22.340 They don't...
00:07:23.500 They don't...
00:07:25.200 They don't...
00:07:25.240 They don't...
00:07:26.660 They don't do what we do.
00:07:29.780 They don't mess around.
00:07:30.840 They don't fool around.
00:07:35.020 The...
00:07:35.620 It's not...
00:07:36.580 You know, from the...
00:07:38.480 You being sort of the captain of Canada,
00:07:40.980 it's not been an easy time for Canada, has it?
00:07:43.120 It has been.
00:07:44.620 It's been a tough time for Canada.
00:07:48.000 And it's really a tough tale.
00:07:53.060 What do you think?
00:07:53.680 Like even Alberta and all that now?
00:07:56.040 Oh, I don't want to even talk about Alberta.
00:08:00.960 When you...
00:08:01.680 When you say...
00:08:03.480 When you hear their argument,
00:08:06.460 it's pretty good.
00:08:08.280 I don't want to...
00:08:09.160 I don't want to...
00:08:10.000 I don't want to get in the argument.
00:08:11.440 Canada and everything that Canada stands for,
00:08:16.400 there's always going to be ups and downs.
00:08:18.040 At the end of the day, though,
00:08:19.760 Canadians will come through.
00:08:21.540 I believe that the Canadians will...
00:08:24.700 Never, never, never...
00:08:26.320 Never...
00:08:26.660 And I don't believe Florida...
00:08:28.420 I don't believe Alberta will leave either.
00:08:32.140 They just want a better deal.
00:08:33.960 They want a better deal.
00:08:35.820 And they deserve it.
00:08:38.380 They deserve it.
00:08:39.380 We have to be...
00:08:44.240 They deserve it.
00:08:46.660 And they don't care who...
00:08:47.340 They deserve it.
00:08:48.380 We want to come through theresso 2021.
00:08:49.380 Which we will give them to the...
00:08:50.000 And if they be working we'll...
00:08:52.100 You don't want another person who's ready to balance.
00:08:53.840 And they deserve that mercy.
00:08:54.360 They deserve it.
00:08:54.940 It's really God's hope.
00:08:56.220 We know that...
00:08:56.420 When somebody else's in our Canada,
00:08:57.640 They deserve it to be in the same future.
00:08:59.900 We'll make up ouriggs team for the past.
00:09:00.580 We'll be talking with people...
00:09:01.240 That's our trips to each other.