Charles Barkley came to Wayne Gretzky’s defense as the beloved Canadian gets criticized by his home country for being a Donald Trump supporter.
Trump has turned his second term as president into a faux war on Canada, imposing new tariffs on the country and threatening to make them the United States’ 51st state. And as Canada looks for support in its fight against Trump, Gretzky has remained silent, causing some to turn on their beloved hero.
Inside the NBA briefly discussed Alex Ovechkin Thursday night as he approaches the NHL’s all-time goals record, which opened the door for Barkley to defend Gretzky from any Canadian critics.
“You got them fools up in Canada giving The Great One a hard time,” Barkley ranted. “Wayne Gretzky is the greatest hockey player ever and he’s the nicest person. But them fools up in Canada give him a hard time because of the tariff with Trump and everything. He has nothing to do with that. He played hockey. He’s the greatest hockey player ever. He got no control over what these fools do down here in our government.”
Wayne Gretzky has not supported Donald Trump on the issue of Canada. But guilt by association. He does have close ties with Trump. And paired with his silence, that’s been enough to garner him backlash from his home country.
At this point, everyone should be tired of Trump’s Canada schtick. Barkley, Gretzky, Americans, Canadians, Trump critics and supporters. Does anyone really want to see Trump call for a military invasion of Canada? Hopefully, the answer is no. In which case, let’s move on.
Trump even came to Gretzky’s defense last week, calling him “the Greatest Canadian of them all…He supports Canada the way it is, as he should, even though it’s not nearly as good as it could be as part of the Greatest and Most Powerful Country in the World, the Good Ole’ U.S.A.!”
Expectedly, Donald Trump’s defense did Wayne Gretzky more harm than good. While Barkley’s defense probably won’t save Gretzky from any further backlash, at least it won’t have the negative effect that Trump’s did.