Don Cherry goes viral after CBC pundits use the same “You People” phrasing that got him fired

Last night the Canada's Leaders' Debates Commission held its French-language election debate between Party Leaders from the Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and Bloc Quebecois in Montreal.

You may recall that earlier in the weekNDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called on the Commission to reschedule the debate for fear that interested viewers would be watching the Montreal Canadiens hockey game, rather than the debate. The Commission ultimately agreed and has moved the debate from 8pm to 6pm and in order to wrapped up by the 7pm puck drop at Bell Centre.

It's not often that you see the hockey world intertwined with the political world but in this case that's exactly what has happened... both BEFORE the debate and then AFTER.

You see, broadcasting legend and proud Canadian Don Cherry was trending after the debates but not for anything that he said himself. Rather, Grapes was trending online after CBC broadcaster Rosemary Barton used the same "you people" type language that Cherry used back in 2019 when he was fired by Sportsnet/CBC.

Barton was discussing far-right media outlets Rebel News and True North News and their line of questioning in the debate, when she said, "there have been issues in the past with who's allowed to ask questions of the leaders, the Debates Commission was the one who decided that these people were allowed to come in and ask these kinds of questions."

It was Barton's use of the term "these people" that seems to have enraged fans online who maintain that what Barton said is no different than what Cherry said back in 2019.

I'll be honest that I have no dog in this fight and that my opinion on touchy political matters carries literally no weight. But... c'mon. It's not the same. Calling new Canadian immigrants "you people" and calling giant media companies "these people" isn't a fair comparison in my eyes. Again, I have no dog in this fight and I'm not about to tell anyone how to feel on the matter, but to me this is simply making a bigger deal of things than needed. I thought that at the time when Cherry said his piece and I think it again today. Nothing-burger.