Everyone knows that hockey players swear.
As much as hockey players try to keep things squeaky clean on camera in media interviews and press conferences, the hot mics on the ice catch all kinds of cussing. What the mics don’t catch, lip-reading reveals most chirps and cheers feature a few F-bombs tossed in along the way.
Still, it’s one thing to know that hockey players swear and quite another to hear it from the mouth of a highly-respected Canucks legend like Kirk McLean.
Often known as Captain Kirk, McLean makes an appearance in the latest campaign from conservation organization Pacific Wild. The headliner of the ad is the more well-known Captain Kirk, William Shatner, and the two drop all pretense of Canadian politeness to swear up a storm.
The ad campaign is in response to the federal government announcing a new timeline for phasing out open-net pen salmon farming in B.C. The initial target for banning the controversial practice was 2025 but has now been extended to 2029. It’s a compromise that has left neither side of the hot-button issue happy, as backers of salmon farming say the timeline is “logistically impossible,” while critics of the industry say the timeline isn’t aggressive enough to save wild salmon.
Pacific Wild is among those critics and they recruited the famously Canadian Shatner to say so in quite colourful language.
In the ad, the Shatner urges his fellow Canadians to abandon their polite, kind ways and to instead tell open-net salmon farms to “F*** off!” with several Canadians echoing his salty language with a few choice words of their own.
The former Canucks goaltender appears to have missed the memo. Sitting in a fishing boat, McLean politely states, “Open-pen farms should really reconsider their practices.”
A stunned Shatner replies, “What the f***, Kirk McLean?” and the entire commercial might be worth it just to hear Captain Kirk cuss out Captain Kirk.
“Come on, man, you’re a hockey player!” Shatner continues.
That’s when McLean responds like a proper hockey player. But, because he’s a Canadian hockey player, he apologizes first.
“Sorry,” says McLean. “Your s***ty unnatural practices f***ing suck!”
Whatever side you fall on this particular issue, you have to admit it’s a pretty hilarious commercial and it’s absolutely wild to hear the face of the Canucks let loose with a couple of choice swear words.
For those who would like to hear fewer beeps, here’s the uncensored version:
