Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk was one of 20 members of Team USA's gold medal-winning Olympic roster that visited the White House at the invitation of President Donald Trump — but he didn't agree with all of the decisions the administration made.
Shortly after Jack Hughes scored the winning goal in overtime against Team Canada, giving the United States their first Olympic gold since 1980 in Lake Placid, the White House's official TikTok account posted an AI-doctored video that appeared to show him disparaging Canadians.
The video in question has been viewed over 11.1 million times on TikTok alone, and in it, Tkachuk is made by AI to say the following phrase with the backdrop of a news conference from the 4 Nations Face-Off last February: “They booed our national anthem, so I had to come out and teach those maple syrup eating f***s a lesson.”
Tkachuk, who is the captain of a team that plays in Canada's capital city, was not overly pleased with the video, which can be seen here.
“Well, it's clearly fake, because it's not my voice, not my lips moving,” Tkachuk said in his first media availability in Ottawa ahead of the team's return to action against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night, per ESPN's Greg Wyshynski.
“I'm not in control of any of those accounts. 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. That's not who I am, so I guess I don't like that video because that would never come out of my mouth, and never had that thought.
“It's crazy when things go on social media, how fast they go. I would never say anything like that.”
Senators' Brady Tkachuk comments on Trump controversy
Tkachuk also addressed the viral moment of Trump disparaging the women's national team. Trump joked on a call with the men's squad shortly after winning that he would have to invite the women's team as well, or else “I would probably be impeached.”
When Trump finished, a chorus of laughter can be heard, which has been widely dissected throughout the hockey world over the last couple of days.
“I mean, I get it,” Tkachuk said when asked if he understood that the women would be insulted by the comment. “We support them, they support us. You can't control what other people say. It was fun being around them, seeing how they play and the excellence around them. If I see one of them, we'll talk about the excitement of what we can control, which is to be gold medalists.”
Tkachuk also said that the players were “caught off guard” by Trump's comments.
“I don't really have an answer. It's a whirlwind of a moment,” he said when asked why the team laughed at the jokes. “You can't control what somebody says. I guess got caught off guard a little bit. You're talking to the president 10 minutes after you achieve your dream.”
Although the aftermath of the championship game caused a ton of controversy, Tkachuk will probably be happy to move past it and return his focus to the NHL — with a gold medal around his neck.
