Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Multiple US Olympic men’s ice hockey players have apologized for their team’s response after President Donald Trump said he would “have to” invite the women’s team to the White House too. The gold-winning men’s team took a congratulatory call from Trump last weekend as they celebrated their final victory over Canada, where the president extended an invitation to Washington DC.
Locker room footage showed several players laughing as the president said that he would be “impeached” if he did not also invite the US women, who also won gold, to his State of the Union address. Both Trump’s remarks and the reaction have drawn intense criticism, which has overshadowed the historic triumphs, and the women’s side later declined an invitation from Trump to Tuesday’s speech, citing prior commitments.
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“Certainly sorry for how we responded to it in that moment. You know, things just happened really quick there,” Charlie McAvoy told reporters ahead of an NHL game Thursday. “If you know the relationships that we have…with the women’s team and how we’ve supported them, it’s certainly not reflective of how we feel,” said McAvoy, a defenseman for the Boston Bruins.
Matthew Tkachuk, who plays for the Carolina Panthers, said the US men’s and women’s teams in Milan were “so close.” “We watched other events together. We went and supported. We love the women’s team, and the women’s team loved us. And we’re so proud that we had a clean sweep of gold medals,” he said. Tkachuk’s brother Brady Tkachuk, captain of the Ottawa Senators, echoed those feelings and indicated he didn’t care for an AI enhanced video published on the official White House TikTok account in which he appears to disparage Canadians.
“Well, it’s clearly fake, because it’s not my voice, not my lips moving,” Brady Tkachuk told reporters on Thursday. The video was released after Sunday’s gold medal triumph and it is marked as using artificial intelligence. “I’m not in control of any of those accounts,” he said. “I know that those words would never come out of my mouth. So I can’t do anything about it. It’s not my voice. It’s not what I was saying. I would never say that. It’s not who I am. So I guess I don’t like that video.”
Tkachuk said that as an American it was a thrill to be among some 20 players from the men’s team who were feted at the White House and again at Trump’s speech before a joint session of Congress. But as players returned to NHL duty, the controversy continued to rumble. Jake Sanderson, Brady Tkachuk’s USA and Ottawa teammate, told journalists the laughter had been “a bit of a mistake” that “got blown out of proportion a little bit,” while reserve goaltender Jeremy Swayman said “we should’ve reacted differently.”
During his State of the Union address, Trump said the women’s team “will soon be coming to the White House.” Hilary Knight, captain of the victorious women’s team, said it was unfortunate that a “distasteful joke” by Trump had overshadowed the achievements of US athletes at the Milan-Cortina Games. “How we speak about women matters, and we need to celebrate this team,” Knight said Thursday on “Good Morning America.”
The team has yet to determine whether to visit the White House, ESPN reported. But they are set to attend a celebratory event in Las Vegas this July hosted by rapper Flavor Flav.
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