Longtime national sports broadcaster Ron MacLean said he hopes to continue his friendship with former co-host Don Cherry after his controversial termination from Hockey Night in Canada.
MacLean was in Edmonton Tuesday to receive an honorary degree from the University of Alberta. Before he spoke to a packed Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, MacLean addressed reporters saying that as his and Cherry’s career paths diverged he hoped their personal connection would remain intact.
“As I’ve said on the TV, I love Don, it doesn’t sound like I would be there for Don, but I am. We were just going through one of the most difficult situations because, as I said, we each made our personal decisions,” said MacLean. “If I have one regret, it’s when I apologized on Sunday night, I used Don’s name and if I’m sitting at home watching it, that would hurt me.”
Cherry was fired from Hockey Night In Canada last Monday after using the words “you people” while making remarks criticizing new Canadians for not wearing poppies around Remembrance Day during his Coach’s Corner first intermission segment. MacLean apologized for the remarks in a broadcast the next evening and addressed Cherry’s termination and the ensuing backlash last Saturday during Hockey Night in Canada’s first airing without Cherry in years.
Before Tuesday’s convocation MacLean said he doesn’t think Cherry is a racist and that he had made a mistake.
“He knows we projected an idea, an attitude or a behaviour on someone and … he’s trying now to admit that,” said McLean. “I know I have a friendship and a deep admiration and love for Don and so I would be guessing that it’s mutual.”
McLean said he has received an email from Cherry since Saturday’s broadcast but did not say what was in the email. Cherry launched the first episode of his new podcast Grapevine earlier Tuesday in which he said MacLean is “still a friend.”
MacLean said it was an “incredible honour” to be recognized by the University of Alberta, noting his wife and sister-in-law both attended the university and many of his friends growing up played on sports teams at the school.
Originally from Red Deer, MacLean, first joined Cherry on Coach’s Corner in 1987, a role that is part of his 30-year broadcasting career. He began his career in 1978 at CKRD Radio in Red Deer before stints hosting broadcasts for the Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs.
MacLean has received 10 Gemini awards and has been inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. He continues to host Hometown Hockey, travelling to communities across Canada each week during the NHL season.
“Like I said, I’m glad to be on a sacred ground of wisdom,” said McLean. “One of the things about the sports programs at University of Alberta is you have to be at 90 per cent just to get into their teams. So they have a very high standard on their approach to education and the record in sports speaks for itself.”
Claudette Tardif, a minority language and culture rights advocate and defender, and Alice Major, one of Canada’s foremost contemporary poets, joined MacLean in receiving honorary degrees Tuesday.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
