Don Cherry responds to 'seal burger' controversy

Ron MacLean (left) sits with Don Cherry as Rogers TV unveils their team for the station's NHL coverage in Toronto on Monday, March 10, 2014. (Chris Young / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Don Cherry has responded to the outrage he sparked during a Coach’s Corner segment Saturday, saying he has “no problem with people who hunt seals and eat seal meat.”

The controversial TV personality touched off a social media firestorm when he called co-host Ron MacLean a "barbarian" for eating seal meat.

After a significant amount of negative reaction to his comments, Cherry posted an eight-part “explanation” of his opinion on Twitter on Sunday.

“I have friends who hunt deer and ducks and I myself have eaten venison and duck meat. Just the same as people who hunt seals and eat seal meat,” Cherry said. “I do however find it very unusual, in my world, that a person would go into a restaurant and order a seal burger for lunch.”

Cherry's original comment came in a conversation with MacLean during their weekly segment on Hockey Night in Canada. MacLean, speaking from St. John's, N.L., said he'd just had a seal burger at a hockey festival.

Cherry responded with outrage.

"Guess what I had for lunch today?" MacLean asked.

"I know, I heard – you're eating a seal. A little baby seal," Cherry replied. "What are you, a savage? A barbarian?"

MacLean said he got the burger from Mallard Cottage, a famed restaurant in St. John's.

"I had a seal burger, and the only challenge for Todd Perrin, the chef, was it was hard to know when to 'flipper,'" MacLean quipped.

Cherry didn't take the joke well. MacLean tried to segue to discussing the Toronto Maple Leafs, but Cherry threw in another comment before moving on.

"Imagine eating a seal. What kind of barbarian…" he said.

Twitter lit up with responses from across the country, though most of the outrage came from the East Coast and northern communities, where people rely on the seal hunt for food and industry.

Chef Todd Perrin, of Mallard Cottage, said controversy over seal-hunting is nothing new to Newfoundlanders.

"It's par for the course," Perrin told CTV News Channel on Sunday.

Perrin called Cherry's choice of words "unfortunate," and stressed that his restaurant does not serve meat from "baby" seals.

Perrin said eating seal is commonplace in Newfoundland and parts of Northern Canada. "It's part of our culture," he said. "It's no different than eating a deer."

He added that he's surprised by the attention he's received after Cherry's comments.

"We certainly weren't expecting this type of reaction whenever Ron mentioned it on the show," Perrin said.

Many people sounded off on Cherry's controversial remarks, including some noted politicians from Northern Canada.

"According to Don Cherry, my Inuk friends are savages because they ate seal," tweeted Matthew Coon Come, the former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. "They network should fire him for his racist remark."

Nunavut MP and federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Cherry's comments were "hurtful and insensitive," and called for him to apologize.

She was joined by a chorus of voices on Twitter.

Others came out in Cherry's defence and went after MacLean instead.