US men’s hockey player responds to backlash after accepting Donald Trump’s White House invite
On Sunday (22 February), the ‘clash of the ages’ took place as USA and Canada men’s hockey teams battled it out on the ice for the title of 2026 Olympic champion.
The Yanks ended up winning 2-1 to take the gold medal with Jack Hughes securing the gold in overtime.
But the celebrations soon went viral for the wrong reasons as the US men’s team faced major backlash over their chat with Donald Trump.
They had a phone call with the president from the locker room at the Winter Olympics as he congratulated the players and invited them to the White House.
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And as the athletes accepted this personal invite, Jack said he was ‘super excited’ to go as he responded to the backlash to their call.
Footage of the hockey team’s chat went viral on social media, with Tump joking he would ‘be impeached’ if he didn’t invite the women’s team to the White House too.
The men were criticised for appearing to laugh at this as some slated it as ‘sexist’.
Trump invited them to yesterday’s State of the Union speech as well as for a private tour of the White House - although, it's reported that a number of the men did decline, with games set to take place today.
While the men's team rocked up for this, the women's had declined the president’s invite.
“They've got busy schedules, too. Everyone is giving us backlash for all the social media stuff today,” Jack told the Daily Mail on Monday.
“People are so negative out there and they are just trying to find a reason to put people down and make something out of almost nothing.
“Our relationship with them, over the course of being in the Athletes' Village, I think we are so tight with their group.”
He said while there might be plenty of negativity, the women’s team ‘knows how much we support them’.
Jack added that the men were ‘excited’ about their trip to meet Trump.
“Everything is so political. We're athletes,” he explained. “We're so proud to represent the US and when you get the chance to go to White House and meet the President, we're proud to be Americans and that's so patriotic.
“No matter what your views are, we're super excited to go to the White House tomorrow and be a part of that.”
Jack’s older brother, Quinn, is also a part of the team and addressed the backlash yesterday during a chat with Good Morning America.
“Yeah, we're excited to go. It's something you don't get to do every Tuesday. It's going to be special for us, but I'm glad you mentioned the women's team again. We're really happy for them,” he said.
The US women’s team cited ‘timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games’ for declining Trump’s invite.
But the spokesperson said they were ‘honoured to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment’.
Topics: Winter Olympics, Donald Trump, Sport
Jess Battison