OTTAWA — A violent suggestion about hockey players stepping on opponents’ throats made by now former colour commentator Brian Burke (who was recently named president of hockey operations with the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins) during Sportsnet West’s broadcast of a 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs game on September 4, 2020, breached the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Violence Code, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) has determined in a decision released today.
During game seven of the second-round playoff matchup between the Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche, Burke was asked by fellow commentator David Amber what he thought about Colorado’s “lack of killer instinct” when they had the lead in the game. Burke replied: “I thought when they went up 3-2 they got complacent. And when a team you’re playing is flat, that’s when you gotta put a boot on their throat and put your full body weight on it.”
A viewer complained to the CBSC about Burke’s comment, saying it promoted hate and violence because it indirectly referenced the widely publicized death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes in May 2020.
In response, Sportsnet argued the phrase used by Burke was commonly used in the context of sports, and it was being used metaphorically towards the hockey team under discussion during the broadcast. Sportsnet did acknowledge the comment was an unfortunate choice of words given the events and sensitivity surrounding Floyd’s death and the subsequent protests, but the station did not believe Burke’s comments had promoted hate or violence, according to information provided in the CBSC’s decision.
The CBSC’s English-language panel examined the complaint under the CAB Violence Code, which prohibits the promotion, sanction or glamorization of violence in general, as well as the promotion or exploitation of violence in sports.
“While the Panel recognized the value of colour commentary during sports programming, it unanimously concluded that the comment breached Article 1.0 of the code. The Panel stated that the expression ‘put a boot on their throat and put your full body weight on it’ was not commonly used in sports and that it ‘constitutes a graphic and violent act that could severely harm someone and even possibly lead to their death. This type of graphic, troubling and violent act should not be endorsed or promoted on air,’” reads the CBSC’s press release announcing its decision.
“The majority of the Panel also found a breach of Article 10.1 regarding violence in sports because the act described ‘is clearly one that is not within the sanctioned limits of hockey. Even if understood as a metaphor, it promotes a level of aggression and violence that could be fatal and well exceeds the customary rough-and-tumble of a hockey game,’” says the press release.
However, the panel also concluded, unanimously, the violent comment did not amount to discrimination or promotion of violence against a racial group, since there was no direct mention of race or the George Floyd incident during the broadcast, says the release.
Sportsnet West is now required to announce the CBSC’s decision in the following terms in audio and video format: once during prime time within three days following the release of the CBSC’s decision and once more with seven days following the release of this decision during the time period in which the specified Stanley Cup 2020 playoff game was broadcast, but not on the same day as the first mandated announcement; within the 14 days following the broadcasts of the announcements, to provide written confirmation of the airing of the statement to the complainant who filed the ruling request; and at that time, to provide the CBSC with a copy of that written confirmation and with air check copies of the broadcasts of the two announcements which must be made by Sportsnet West.
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