Business

American CEO says he prefers ‘O Canada’ to ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’

Talk about throwing America under the bus.

The new CEO of the company that owns the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs and National Basketball Association’s Toronto Raptors — and until recently ran the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and Major League Soccer’s LA Galaxy — said he prefers Canada to his home country.

St. Louis native Tim Leiweke, in a speech on Tuesday at Toronto’s Empire Club, said he prefers the Canadian national anthem “O Canada” to “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

After leaving the Kings, he also hip-checked their fans, saying, “When I was with the Los Angeles Kings, we spoke a lot about Canada.” And then he joked about how the million Canadians who moved to Los Angeles did so because they hated hockey.

The Kings, despite winning the 2012 Stanley Cup, lost money on low attendance.

Leiweke became president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment after failing to find a buyer as CEO for Philip Anschutz’s AEG.