Canucks fire anthem singer for participating in lockdown protests.

A bad day for Mark Donnelly.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Canucks fire anthem singer for participating in lockdown protests.
MARK VAN MANEN / PNG

I don't like this story one bit.

On Friday Vancouver Canucks team owner Francesco Aquilini publicly announced the firing of Canucks anthem singer Mark Donnelly. The move was made in a rather embarrassing fashion, with Aquilini publicly humiliating Donnelly by making the announcement via his Twitter account for the Canucks fan base and for the world to see. This I believe was not done by accident but was instead an attempt by Aquilini to show the world that he was distancing both himself and the Canucks organization from Donnelly as clearly as possible.

So what did Donnelly do to deserve such treatment? Well on Friday it was reported that Donnelly had been booked to perform at the B.C. Christmas Freedom Rally 2020, an event that is schedule to be held this very afternoon outside the Vancouver Art Gallery. Now I strongly suspect that Donnelly himself supports the protest if he is indeed performing at the event, however there has thus far been no outward statement of support on the part of Donnelly who only confirmed that he would be signing the national anthem.

"I sing ‘O Canada’ as a sign of unity and strength for all Canadians," said Donnelly as per Postmedia."The true north strong and free."

In fact the event organizers went out of their way to make it clear that Donnelly was appearing as himself and not on behalf of the Vancouver Canucks, but it seems even these extra steps taken to avoid any possible association with the Canucks brand have failed to achieve their goal. 

Now I know nothing of Donnelly personally but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that he may be among those struggling during the pandemic. I mean would anyone have a hard time believing that a man who makes at least part of his living singing in front of large crowds has suddenly seen a decline in his finances during this ongoing pandemic? If this ends up being a case of a struggling man trying to find work where he can and losing his regular job as a result, this one is going to leave a bad taste in not only my mouth, but in the mouths of many blue collar hockey fans and fans of the National Hockey League. 

Expect a follow up today where I will bring you some of the reaction from fans of the Vancouver Canucks and hockey fans at large. 

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