MONTREAL – Comedian Sugar Sammy took to social media Tuesday to “officially” put in his candidacy as the next commentator of Hockey Night in Canada.
“Heard you were hiring, here’s my demo,” the 43-year-old tweeted. “I love hockey and making fun of francophones.”
The funnyman offered up his auditon tweet after longtime hockey commentator Don Cherry was removed from Sportsnet for ranting on Saturday’s broadcast that immigrants don’t pay respect to Canadian veterans because they don’t wear poppies.
During a segment on Coach’s Corner, the 85-year-old said, "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 then added, “These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price."
Sportsnet responded to criticism by stating, "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.”
Cherry has gone on to deny that his comments targeted any particular ethnic group, insisting that everyone should wear a poppy to honour the war veterans.
“It could have been anybody, it could have been Irish, it could have been the Scots, it could have been the English, it could have been anybody,” Cherry said.
So, is Sugar Sammy up to the challenge of providing some colourful commentary to Hockey Night in Canada?
Some on Twitter think so, including American Hockey League (AHL) goalie Zachary Fucale:
