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Jeremy WillisESPN.com
Celine Dion is a pop music legend. The Grammy winner is also an icon in her native Canada. However, this week she found herself in a feud between her home country and its southern neighbor (the United States). It was over hockey, of course.
During Game 5 of the Stanley Cup semifinals between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Montreal Canadiens, an image of Dion in Knights gear appeared on the video board at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Dion had also been photographed wearing a Knights jersey during a performance. That did not sit well in Canada. The Montreal Gazette called her a traitor for choosing sides against the Habs.
We’re everything we are
because Celine loves usssss pic.twitter.com/yWFg13Kxzw
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) May 23, 2018
Céline Dion, a traitor, poses in Vegas Golden Knights attire https://t.co/zJNdBD5qZy pic.twitter.com/Ag30mMi9j1
— Montreal Gazette (@mtlgazette) June 23, 2021
Now, Dion is from Charlemagne, Quebec, about 15 miles northeast of Montreal. So, despite playing multiple residencies in Las Vegas and living in Henderson, Nevada, it would be quite a thing for her to turn her back on her hometown team. Dion then went into damage control. While celebrating Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, Dion seemed to address the photo.
Bonne Saint-Jean-Baptiste à toutes les Québecoises et à tous les Québécois. Je vous embrasse et vous souhaite une bonne fête nationale ! ??
En passant, je n’ai rien à voir avec cette photo…. Et vous savez de quelle photo je parle ! ? – Céline xx…— Celine Dion (@celinedion) June 24, 2021
“By the way, I have nothing to do with this photo … and you know what photo I’m talking about,” Dion said in French.
Dion’s team told Noovo, a Canadian TV channel, that it was not contacted by the Golden Knights about the image. “Hockey Night in Canada,” the CBC’s premier hockey broadcast, then came to Dion’s defense.
We see you @GoldenKnights ?
— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) June 23, 2021
However, a little photoshopping was not enough to get the Knights to the Stanley Cup Final. The Canadiens won Game 6 in Montreal and returned to the finals for the first time since winning the cup in 1993.