Like his dual citizenship, Mike Myers is doubling down on his Saturday Night Live “Canada is not for sale” protest.
In a new interview with the New York Times, the veteran comic and actor — who hails from Toronto, though largely resides in the U.S. — opened up about the reasoning for his political statement, saying it was a message of solidarity for folks back home.
Myers, who first appeared on SNL to spoof Elon Musk at the beginning of March (since reprising the role twice), did not originally intend to make any sort of remark. However, “I got angrier and angrier,” he recalled, throughout the night while thinking of Musk’s quip that “Canada is not a real county” and President Donald Trump‘s “51st state” rhetoric. Thus, during the sketch show’s goodnights, Myers’ slogan tee — unveiled after he unzipped his vest — was accompanied by the actor mouthing “elbows up,” a reference to Canadian hockey icon Gordie Howe’s slogan toward aggressive opponents on the ice.
“What happened came from my ankles and from my brain and from my heart, and it was not about me — it was about my country,” he told the Gray Lady. “I wanted to send a message home to say that I’m with you, you know.”
The Austin Powers star added, “What’s happened has really hurt our feelings. We love America. We love you guys. We don’t understand what this madness is.”
Since then, Myers appeared in a political spot opposite newly minted Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, in which the latter quizzes him on his national identity. At the conclusion of the one-minute advert, Myers is seen with a hockey jersey that reads “Never 51.”
Speaking more broadly to his parody of Musk, the six-season SNL alum added that the tech CEO’s involvement in democratic government “goes against how I feel as a Canadian … [and] belief in good government.”
“Fascism doesn’t like to be ridiculed; it likes to be feared,” he concluded. “Satire is an important tool in the toolbox to say that this is not normal — that the cuts he’s making are not normal.”