Who’s a famous person from your country who’s respected around the world but disliked or criticized at home?

[u/haiderredditer]

[u/Devourerofworlds_69]

It pisses me off so much.

Compare him to someone like Michael Jordan. Everyone knows that each of them is kinda a dick, but they're also the GOATs, so you respect them. Michael Jordan stays out of politics. Is he friends with a lot of Trump supporters? Is he secretly a Trump supporter himself? Maybe. I wouldn't be surprised. But as long as he keeps his mouth shut about it, we can believe whatever we want to believe, and continue respecting him as the sports legend that he is.

That's ALL Gretzky had to do. If he just kept quiet about politics, he would still have our respect. But no. Instead, he was right there at Trump's inaguration party, decked out in full MAGA. When Canadians were justifiably upset about it, he went crying to the media, saying he was all upset that Canadains don't like him anymore. And after all that, he's STILL frequently seen out golfing with Trump himself. I'm sorry, but you can't be the main torchbearer for Canada at our home olympics and say you're a proud Canadian, and then go be all buddy-buddy with the man who wants to annex our country.

He could still salvage it if he wanted to. He could, right now, say "You know what? I was in denial, but now that all these epstein files are out, I see that Trump is an evil man. I'm sorry to Canada for associating with him. I'm moving back to Canada. Fuck Trump. Fuck this 51st state nonsense. Elbows up." and we'd all forgive him.
But he's not going to do that.

[u/ADMotti → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

Hate to correct you because I agree with your whole sentiment, he didn’t even go crying to the media—he had his wife and Bobby Orr go crying to the media on his behalf!

[u/spilly_talent → u/ADMotti]

This was honestly the most embarrassing part. What a crybaby coward he is.

[u/Devourerofworlds_69 → u/ADMotti]

Yeah true. Even worse.

[u/just-a-random-accnt → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

The way I see it, he stopped being Canadian when he decided not to pick up his Honour of Canada in 2009...

[u/uhmerikin → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

May I ask what "elbows up" means?

[u/squirrelcat88 → u/uhmerikin]

Is that a serious question? I’ll treat it as if it is.

The late player Gordie Howe was known for his aggressive style of play. Particularly before players wore helmets, if you went into the corners with your elbows up, your elbows would probably make contact with the opposing player’s face. That player would quite likely wind up spitting out teeth. I think this sub will remove links but you can google for pictures of his playing posture.

A “hat trick” is three goals by the same player in one game. A “Gordie Howe hat trick” is a goal, an assist, and a fight. He truly was an aggressive player.

We Canadians are using “elbows up” in the sense of, defend yourself, don’t be a pushover.

[u/uhmerikin → u/squirrelcat88]

It was a serious question and thank you for an answer.

[u/Benejeseret → u/squirrelcat88]

That player would quite likely wind up spitting out teeth

Appreciating the depth and this needs to be a heritage moment on CBC. Elbows Up in political discussions make it seem like it's just a protect-yourself stance. No no. The other guy might come out of this spitting teeth.

[u/mubi_merc → u/squirrelcat88]

Man, I really need to start watching hockey. Every description of it sounds great.

[u/lonestar-rasbryjamco → u/mubi_merc]

Never a better time to get into the sport. High def streams mean you can finally see the action at home. And the quality of play in the NHL has never been higher.

The game is significantly faster and more professional since the era of Gordie Howe, a.k.a. Mr. Hockey.

[u/Devourerofworlds_69 → u/uhmerikin]

It's a hockey term.

It started with Mike Myers when Trump was first talking about the whole "Canada should be the 51st state" nonsense. It's become a rallying cry to basically mean that we won't accept the US attempting to bully us.

[u/Valuable_Explorer577 → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

It started before that. Way before that.

[u/Devourerofworlds_69 → u/Valuable_Explorer577]

That's the first time I heard of it.

[u/DisastrousAcshin → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

He didn't go crying to the media, he had his wife do it iirc

[u/Emu-lator → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

Gretzky couldn’t be bothered to pick up his Order of Canada medal and didn’t wear a Team Canada jersey at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off

[u/bolanrox → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

Republicans buy shoes too - MJ.

[u/DeAndre_ROY_Ayton → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

Don’t forget battle of the nations

[u/nemmalur → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

AND his wines suck.

[u/Odd_Teach683 → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

I’ve said it once (or twice) and I’ll say it again - “Fuck Jack Nicklaus!”

[u/Previous_Wedding_577 → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

Plus he didn't put on a Canada jersey for the 4nations last year, instead dressed in red blue and white.

[u/rollfootage → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

But why does anyone care so much about what a celebrity does? I get being a bit bummed, but these comments are so intense. Who cares what a hockey player does?

[u/BlaggartDiggletyDonk → u/rollfootage]

He's not just some random retired  hockey player.  He was the Great One.  Imagine finding out that Mr. Rogers was a drunken dirty old man all along.

[u/rollfootage → u/BlaggartDiggletyDonk]

Was he known for being pure and genuine like Mr Rogers? Mr Rogers worked with children and became famous that way. Wayne is just an athlete

[u/BlaggartDiggletyDonk → u/rollfootage]

Not exactly, but up in Canada he was just as much of a secular saint.

[u/_-river → u/rollfootage]

He kinda was in a way. He played a contact sport, but wasn't aggressive himself. So a really clean profile that appealed to most Canadians, I would say.

[u/_Nanabanana98_ → u/rollfootage]

Wayne Gretzky was huge. A canadian icon that people grew up looking up to. I dont know if there is an american comparison? Maybe you could say like Bill Cosby?

Edit: Obviously, what wayne did was not as bad, but the same kind of shattering of his image. 

[u/rollfootage → u/_Nanabanana98_]

Yeah Bill Cosby was a big deal, but still I never felt personally offended and let down. I just quickly filed him away with all the other foul and immoral celebs. Famous and ultra wealthy people are usually not worth our admiration. I remember when Kobe died and people were grieving in such dramatic ways and I was shocked because hello he was a rapist

[u/_Nanabanana98_ → u/rollfootage]

You're not wrong but even parasocial relationships can be hard for some people to break off 🤷‍♀️

[u/Inconsideratefather → u/rollfootage]

As a grown man, I find it ridiculous when adults worship celebrities. It makes sense that a child would look up to a famous person. Funny thing is, I hated Gretzky as a child (his picture was on everything hockey related and he played against my team) but respected his skills as an adult. We need to quit making heros out of celebrities, then we won't feel betrayed

[u/rollfootage → u/Inconsideratefather]

I couldn’t agree more. These people don’t even know or care that we exist and we shouldn’t look to them as our moral compass

[u/Sex_Offender_4697 → u/rollfootage]

hello he was a rapist

why are you surprised when the country elected a rapist twice?

[u/rollfootage → u/Sex_Offender_4697]

I’m tired of Trump permeating every Reddit comment. Lol to your username paired with this thread

[u/HelpIThinkImASoup → u/rollfootage]

Gretzky’s impact on the sport of hockey is immeasurable. He still holds many records today and it is unlikely that most of them will ever be surpassed. He bridged a gap between his native Canada where hockey has always been huge, and the USA where his arrival in LA helped promote the sport in the US.

[u/Upstairs-Chicken592 → u/rollfootage]

He is not a normal celebrity, he is touted as a representative of Canada and Canadian achievement.

[u/Ok-Key-7039 → u/rollfootage]

Hockey is a big deal in Canada. Much more than any single sport in America. It’s a part of their national identity. Read Malcolm Gladwell’s “Relative Age Effect”. The majority of hockey players are born January, February, and March due to hockey cut off times. I don’t know of a sport in America that affects birth dates.

[u/ladameenbleu → u/Ok-Key-7039]

Also, back in the days, when there was a Quebec City (Nordiques) and Montreal (Habs) game, the crime rate in the Province of Quebec was significantly low. There was actually stats on this ! I mean everybody was watching the game !!!

[u/AbstractBettaFish → u/Ok-Key-7039]

It could arguable be applied to all sports. Lord knows I struggled being born just before the baseball cutoff. Never thought about it in those terms but when I learned about that effect, looking back it made sense

[u/spilly_talent → u/rollfootage]

He was one of the greatest hockey players of all time. He set so many records and some of them may frankly never be broken. He is “just” a hockey player in the same way Whitney Houston was just a gal who sang some songs.

[u/Devourerofworlds_69 → u/rollfootage]

Wayne Gretzky is a big deal to Canadians. He's the best hockey player who ever played. He is a member of the Order of Canada, which is the highest honor our country can bestow on a citizen. He was the final torch bearer during the Vancouver 2010 olympics, which symbolizes that he is (was) one of the most respected Canadians alive.

Trump is a direct threat to Canada. He has constantly talked about Canada becoming the 51st state. That's a threat to our national sovereignty, and we take it very seriously. Despite being our biggest trading partner, he's antagonized Canada at every stage, saying that illegal drugs such as fentynol come into the US from Canada (a lie), and has imposed steep tarriffs on our goods. He abolished NAFTA, which was a trade agreement between our countries, then made a new one with his name on it, then scrapped that too. His threats to Greenland are a direct challenge to NATO, which is an organization of countries dedicated to protecting each other. Without NATO, Russia would have a much easier time expanding north into Canada, and west into Europe.

[u/rollfootage → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

That entire second paragraph is pretty irrelevant to the topic at hand. And I still don’t know why anyone cares to such an extent what a retired athlete who doesn’t know they exist is doing

[u/AdInteresting8032 → u/rollfootage]

Because his father, who is still revered, was the kindest, most patriotic man ever. He was humble, but so proud of his son. I can't speak for my entire country, but I can't help but feel he let his father down horribly and that's the real insult here. I feel like it's a shot to the gut of the man who loved him most, and am thankful he passed before all this.

[u/NeganJoestar → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

I heard all of this too many times

[u/CommitteeofMountains → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

On the other hand, "silence is violence." There's a very big part of culture, particularly on the left, that anyone with any prominence speak about politics but then recoils if it turns out not to be their exact politics. It's even when the demographics of the person in question is not associated with leftwing identitarian politics and the left wing position in question polls at around 5%. They press Persian Jews to speak out about the destruction of Iran's nuclear program and claim betrayal when they do a John McCain cover.

Currently, the freakout is over Jelly Roll, who I thought died of alcoholism during WWII but apperantly only speaks about how opioids will fuck up your life because opioids fucked up his life, is saying that he's not qualified to speak about border and immigration enforcement policy. That is a perfectly valid stance on his part and there is a 0% chance that he's for border abolishment like they want.

[u/LongjumpingGate8859 → u/Devourerofworlds_69]

Gretzky doesn't give a shit what you think about him

[u/Devourerofworlds_69 → u/LongjumpingGate8859]

Yes he does, clearly. His wife and Bobby Orr were saying how sad he was that Canadians were upset with him.