Canadian broadcaster Don Cherry was fired last week after an anti-immigrant rant – so, naturally, that made him an instant hero for Tucker Carlson’s White Power Hour.
If, like me, you don't follow hockey much, The Washington Post has the backstory:
Many Canadians wear small artificial poppies in the days leading up to Remembrance Day to commemorate military personnel who died during war. Speaking Saturday night during “Coach’s Corner,” his intermission segment during the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Hockey Night in Canada,” Cherry noted that he rarely sees anyone wearing poppies in Mississauga, the Toronto suburb where he lives, or in downtown Toronto. Both areas have sizable ethnic populations.
“You people love — you, that come here, whatever it is — you love our way of life, you 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.”
On Monday, after his firing, Cherry stood by his words in an interview with the Toronto Sun: “I know what I said and I meant it," Cherry said. “Everybody in Canada should wear a poppy to honor our fallen soldiers.
We’re sure that as soon as he awoke from his swoon, Tucker Carlson was willing to move heaven and earth to book his new idol. Tuesday night, he made that happen. “We’re proud to have him on our show,” Carlson said.
Cherry seemed a tad sorry about his choice of words, though not their meaning, on Fox News. “I suppose if I had to do it over again, I would have said ‘everybody’” rather than “you people,” he told Carlson. But then Cherry told us that “everybody’s with me” and “I stand by what I said and I still mean it.”
Carlson was not only sympathetic, he was ready to weaponize Cherry's plight against anyone he offended. “I think what you were saying … people who move to Canada ought to, at least, nod at the traditions of Canada. Like, why is, why is that controversial?” Carlson "asked."
If Carlson really cared to know the answer, he would have asked someone other than Cherry. Predictably, Cherry responded, “Well, don’t ask me.” Then he reiterated his regret at not using the word “everybody” because “people are very sensitive like that.”
That was Carlson’s opening to smear those who don’t love bigotry and nativism as he does. “If I can just clarify, they're not sensitive at all, they’re fascists,” Carlson said. “They actually have no real feelings. They’re faking their outrage.”
He continued, “They're trying to crush you because they want to exert power, because it makes them feel big, when actually inside they are small.”
Then, perhaps cognizant of his desire to martyrize Cherry for his White Power Hour fan base, Carlson added, “But, just to clarify, you didn't -- did you mean to say something hateful?”
Predictably, Cherry replied he had not.
By the way for all you liberal hockey fans out there, Cherry also said during this segment that hockey great Bobby Orr is a big Carlson fan.
Watch the martyrization below, from the November 12, 2019 Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Tucker is scraping the bottom of the barrel.