WARMINGTON: Will Ron MacLean's apology for 'roofies' joke become lasting Hangover?

· Toronto Sun

See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source

This may be a Stanley Cup hangover that may take more than a day for Ron MacLean to recover from.

Visit syntagm.co.za for more information.

The legendary Hockey Night in Canada host himself said some are hitting the roof over this attempt at Stanley Cup humour that not only had him climbing down from his perch to apologize but remind TV viewers there’s nothing funny about plying somebody with the date rape drug.

It all stemmed from a before-the-game parody of the famous Hangover movie starring Brad Cooper and Zach Galifianakis, in which one of their friends ends up passed out of the roof of their Las Vegas hotel after they were all plied with Rohypnol.

In a strange pre-game set up, Rogers Sportsnet host Kyle Bukauskas did a preamble for the game when he playfully bumped into the Stanley Cup which was appearing on the roof of the hotel along with its keepers Phil Pritchard and Craig Campbell.

“Stanley, Stanley. How are you bud? Are you OK? Look at you. You got some colour, I’m jealous,” said Bukauskas.

At that point the camera veers over and shows Pritchard and Campbell appearing to be passed out on the roof – like what was seen in that movie.

“I don’t even wanna know. Listen, we gotta go. We may need you here tonight,” said Bukauskas. “Ron, I’m gonna go get my friend some water.”

In the signoff, MacLean pipes in “So good Kyle. The roofies, they’ll get you every time. Thanks, especially to Phil Pritchard and Craig Campbell. Back to our music now — Use Somebody (Kings of Leon) there’s a couple of users right there.”

It seems not everybody was laughing.

On-air apology

In the intermission between the second and third period of what turned out to he the deciding game which saw the Stanley Cup awarded to the Carolina Hurricanes who beat the Vegas Golden Knights at home, MacLean performed a mea culpa .

“Something I said on the broadcast, it was a bad mistake by me,” said MacLean. “We had a fun spoof about the movie, The Hangover , and I referenced the scene in the movie. Where were the tiger is put to sleep — Mike Tyson’s tiger. The keepers of the cup of course were asleep in this skit and I was, and I used the slang term for the drug which has far more serious connotations in reality and I should have made that connection and I did not.”

MacLean plead innocent on this remark — referencing the 1963 book about the plight of African Americans living under racism, The Fire Next Time .

“As (writer) James Baldwin would say, ‘it’s innocence that constitutes the crime.” So I know I triggered some people, I know offended some people with that remark and I feel very badly for that and I want you to thank you for bringing it to my attention, to our attention. Very sorry.”

MacLean and Rogers Media, which owns Sportsnet, have not commented further on the matter.

Past apologies

This was the third time in recent memory MacLean has apologized on the hockey broadcast.

Once was the famous one in which he apologized for Don Cherry’s “you people” should wear poppies to honour the fallen in war comment which many feel was an effort to save his own skin while throwing then 85-year-old Cherry overboard.

MacLean also apologized to the gay community for a shirtless skit at a party which was an attempt at humour on the show in 2021.

Sportsnet at the time said MacLean was “deeply sorry” for the joke which showed fellow analyst Anthony Stewart with his shirt off at a party.

“You have a photo of a guy with his tarp off, you’re definitely positive for something,” was the line MacLean said which some thought it meant HIV.

He said he was talking about testing positive for booze.

“I meant the rum,” MacLean said, adding “I understand that when others are in ‘earshot’ of a two-way conversation the potential for misunderstanding exists.”

Last summer, MacLean also apologized to Cherry for an interview in which he talked about his former partner’s health concerns and suggested the “you people” comment was an attempt to exit from his 38 years on Coach’s Corner .

But this latest gaffe goes into the area of potential sexual assault — something sensitive for the hockey world as a result of last year’s acquittal of former players on Canada’s World Junior hockey team.

While MacLean’s reference to “roofies” and “using somebody” fall into MacLean’s vintage play on words, quip style at the end of a segment for comedy purposes, he himself has acknowledged not everybody is laughing.

Read full story at source