After cancelling Cherry, mob now after the Great One

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As people line up to try to cancel the Great One, the hockey legend has Grapes in his corner.

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It’s kind of fitting the man voted in a CBC poll as the 7th greatest Canadian has the back of the person from that same poll who was voted the 10th greatest Canuck.

Canada sure knows how to tear down its top legends. Move over Sir John A. Macdonald, Egerton Ryerson, Henry Dundas and Don Cherry, it’s now Wayne Gretzky’s turn.

“I don’t like it,” 91-year-old Cherry told the Toronto Sun on Friday. “Wayne didn’t do anything wrong. And this is wrong because no one has done more for Canada than Gretzky.”

But when the woke mob is coming for you, there is nothing you can do to stop it.

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No one knows that more than Grapes. Back in 2019 he was erased from Hockey Night in Canada‘s Coach’s Corner after four decades of great service to the CBC for merely saying “you people love our milk and honey” and “our way of life” and the “least you can do is buy a poppy.”

It fired up the political class who piled on Cherry — 85 years old at the time — who had few stepping up to help him as they brazenly took down one of Canada’s cultural icons for repeating something he had said many times before. It didn’t matter. He was fired and no one cared that he had raised millions for charity and backed our troops and stood up for Canada. Now they are doing the same to No. 99.

Why?

Largely because he was seen at Mar-a-Lago supporting U.S. President Donald J. Trump on his historic comeback election night and wearing a Make America Great Again hat. And because Trump teased Gretzky should become “governor” of the United States’ 51st state of Canada. Now they are after him because he walked in front the American hockey team’s bench as Canada’s honorary captain and gave a thumbs up to the American players on his way by before taking the ceremonial picture with captains Sidney Crosby for Canada and Auston Matthews for the U.S.

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“Wayne Gretzky wasn’t even wearing a Team Canada jersey,” Great White North wrote on X.

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Others were complaining he wasn’t wearing his Order of Canada pin as debate arose whether or not he had ever picked it up.

“I authored books on Wayne Gretzky. I covered him for a decade in Edmonton in the WHA and NHL and extensively after he departed. I have viewed him as the greatest player in history and as a great Canadian,” posted former Edmonton Sun columnist and sports writing legend Terry Jones. “He needs to face the nation and explain his relationship with Donald Trump.”

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No, the Great One does not need to explain his relationship to anybody. It’s no one’s business who he is friends with. And he should not be held accountable for anything the president says. He has no agency on that.

Gretzky’s affiliation with Trump, for whatever it’s worth from sources close to him, stems from daughter Paulina’s marriage to top world golfer Dustin Johnson and his wife Janet’s friendships. Other sources say he and his wife were also acquaintances of Trump when the Great One played for the New York Rangers in the late 1990s.

Gretzky and his family are allowed to befriend whoever they want. He himself is not political, doing public service and charity events with prime ministers and presidents of all political stripes.

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“He knows many heads of state,” said one of his friends.

As for the thumbs up to the American players, Cherry said that’s what you do when you walk by a bench and players are saying hello to you.

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“I do it all the time,” said Grapes.

As for walking in front of the bench, “that’s where they were coming onto the ice from,” and Wayne “did a good job with the face off” with the 1980 Miracle on Ice captain Mike Eruzione, wearing a special Team USA sweater in honour of Johnny Gaudreau and his No. 13, killed last summer and would have been on this team.

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Gretzky wasn’t given a sweater to wear but he did buy “Be Great” red ball caps for the Canadian team.

He is a patriot who deserves better than this. This idea of erasing the NHL legend from Canada’s history is pure madness.

Where does it end? How many more people can these haters cancel? Will there be anybody of note left?

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“Well, that’s how Canadians are,” said Grapes. “They want to take you down if you are big.”

In Edmonton, there is a petition circulating with more than 3,500 signatures as of Friday evening to see Wayne Gretzky Drive be renamed. Talk about fair-weather support.

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“If you feel as betrayed as I do, please consider signing this petition to change the name of Wayne Gretzky Drive to something else,” said organizer Grant Prete.

What’s next? Tear down Gretzky’s statue in downtown Edmonton?

Prete seems like a nice person and he’s allowed to do this, just as much as Gretzky is allowed to support anybody he chooses too.

But Cherry does have some advice for the fellow legend under siege.

“Ride it out is what my advice to Wayne is. Ride it out and don’t say anything back,” he said.

Eventually, the haters will move on to a new icon they want to destroy.

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