Michael Bublé jokes about taking mushrooms at NHL draft

By

February 3, 2024

When Grammy-winning singer Michael Bublé was tapped as a celebrity captain for the NHL All-Star Game draft on Thursday in Toronto, it's likely that no one could have predicted that he would talk about taking hallucinogenic mushrooms during the post-draft press conference.

When a reporter asked Bublé about his fantasy hockey league experience, he said,

Matt, I’m in more than one hockey league. In the LHL, which I’m in with you, I happen to be in fifth place. Even though I had no first overall pick, first pick even, I didn’t even have a first-rounder. And I still did what I had to do because of my genius. Second, I am first place in the FHL, [my] other fantasy hockey league.

And that's where the conversation took a bizarre turn.

"Third, my buddy told me, ‘This is just a microdose of mushrooms,'" Bublé went on. "And he was lying. So, I’ll be honest, I thought I was in Blades of Glory for most of the time that I was out there until it sort of settled down. And then I realized, ‘Holy s---. I am at the NHL All-Star Game.’”

Surprising comments

The comment brought laughter to the room at the time, but it surprised a lot of people. Initially, it seemed like for some people, it was hard to know whether Bublé was telling a joke or relating an actual occurrence.

Media outlets as diverse as Mediaite and Fox News reported that Bublé "admitted" to "being high on mushrooms" at the presser, seeming to take his comments at face value (or thinking they could get more views by taking it that way).

Will Arnett, who was sitting next to Bublé, commented about both his co-captain's fantasy hockey admissions and the mushrooms comment.

“It just occurs to me that through all the incredible songs that you’ve done over the years,” Arnett said, “and all the hearts of women you won over around the world, with all that talk about fantasy hockey, [you] lost them all in one sentence. It all just evaporated. Years of building it up and it’s just gone."

"The mushroom talk definitely lost you a lot of income," he added.

An admission or a joke?

Sports Illustrated was able to clear up the mystery of Bublé's comments in its roundup of social media reactions to his "admission."

Media personality and sports analyst Mike Golic Jr. posted on X, "Doing mushrooms with Michael Bublé is the V-Foundation auction package I didn't know I needed." Let's hope that was a joke.

Bublé finally cleared things up in response to a fan's question, "How were the shrooms?"

"20 years and people still don't get my humor. I just keep rolling. lol," he replied.