Pat McAfee extends ‘handshake’ to Canadian fans after WWE Elimination Chamber comments

Pat McAfee offered a handshake and an explanation to Canadian fans for his comments at WWE Elimination Chamber on Saturday.

McAfee called Canada “terrible” to open the broadcast of Saturday’s show in response to the live crowd in Toronto booing the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner.

He issued a response during today’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show:

“Now, Canada. Listen, there’s been some things said to me from Canadians that, I guess, I respect because of the passion that you have for your country, which I hope you understand that I was showing the same for mine. You booed my country.”

“Anytime I’ve ever heard somebody boo our national anthem, my natural reaction is, ‘Let’s fight.’ That is literally my natural reaction. Now, a lot of Canadians have told me, why don’t you do a little investigating on why we’re booing? OK. ‘Did you hear what your president said?’ OK, listen, I understand there’s political differences at the current moment between US and Canada. But I feel like anytime I think of Canada, I don’t think of what Justin Trudeau does. I don’t think immediately of Justin Trudeau’s decisions. I don’t think immediately of what Canada is doing in the political sphere. I think of the people of Canada.”

He continued:

“So, I understand now from the Canadians that they have a lot more passion for their country than I could have ever imagined. A lot of terrible things have been said about me and I understand it. You boo my country. I called your country terrible. Let’s shake hands. You said you didn’t boo every member of the United States or every citizen of the United States of America. Well, I didn’t say the Canadians are terrible, I said your country was. So, you booed us, I said you’re terrible, let’s shake hands. Let’s move along. There you go. That’s what I would like to say. And I still love Canadians, okay? We got one in the building.”

“So, I love Canadians, but my first reaction whenever you boo our country is, okay, let’s fight. I’m sorry. So, let’s go shake their hands. Canada. Boom. I hope we get settled.”

Canadian fans have been booing the U.S. national anthem before NHL and NBA games since President Trump began making remarks suggesting Canada could become the “51st State.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told business leaders at the Canada-U.S. Economic Summit that Trump’s threats to annex the country are a “real thing,” saying the former president is motivated by a desire to tap into Canada’s critical mineral resources. Trudeau added, “Mr. Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country and it is a real thing.”

According to a recent Pollara Strategic Insights report, fewer than 10 percent of Canadians consider Trump’s annexation threats to be a joke. Trudeau is in the UK on Monday meeting with King Charles, with U.S.-Canada relations expected to be among the topics discussed.