US women's hockey team invited to 'real' celebration after they snubbed Trump
After turning down Donald Trump's invitation to celebrate their Olympic victory in light of a sexist comment he made, Team USA's women's hockey team were invited to a much more high-profile celebration.
For those who missed it, in response to their gold medal-winning 2-1 victory against Canada in Milan over the weekend, the President extended an invite to his country's female hockey team to attend his State of the Union address.
A spokesperson for the girl group told NBC they'd cited 'timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments' in their decision to decline Trump's offer.
"They were honoured to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgement," they added.
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It may well have been, however, that a controversial response the Republican leader gave to the American men's hockey team's identical victory against Canada days later, also played a part in the women's reasoning.
In footage that has since gone viral online, following their 2-1 win, Trump personally telephoned the men's group whilst they were in the midst of a locker room celebration, to extend them an invite to the same address.
FBI Director Kash Patel was in attendance in Italy at the time, seen in damning footage drinking from a bottle of beer while holding up Trump's phone call.
"We’re giving the State of the Union speech on Tuesday night," the politician told the sportsmen.
"I could send a military plane or something, if you would like to. It’s the coolest night. It’s the biggest speech."
After the group communally claimed, 'We're in', Trump's tone changed as he brought up the women's victory.
"And we have to - I must tell you - we’re going to have to bring the women’s team," he added, prompting roars of laughter from the male group. "[If I don’t] do that, I do believe I probably would be impeached, OK?"
Thankfully for the female athletes, however, after Trump's 'misogynistic' comments quickly spread on social media, they received another, much more exclusive invitation to party.
The offer was made on Monday (23 February) by none other than rap legend Flavor Flav, whose management told the women's group in an online post that if they 'want a real celebration and invite' that he'd 'host them in Las Vegas'.
In an email screengrab later shared to X (formerly Twitter), Flav's team told the female victors: "I am reaching out on behalf of Flavor Flav. First, massive congratulations on the gold!!
"We saw the story about the men’s invite to the White House, and the not quite invite for the women’s team."
The invitation added: "Flav recently posted on social media an idea and invite for the women’s hockey team to Las Vegas for a real celebration. He always stands behind everything he says and does.
"If there is an interest for the team to come to Las Vegas and celebrate with Flav – we will figure it out on our end and make it a lovely experience.
The much-loved musician also promised they'd 'do some nice dinners and shows and good times', adding that he's 'gots to invite my Bobsled + Skeleton team too'.
It wasn't just Flav, 66, that had been left disappointed by Trump's 'not quite invite'.
After the clip of the right-wing leader's phone call to the men's group went viral, one critic slammed it as a 'misogynistic disgusting a** joke'.
"Yeah, you can hear the sexist joke as well," another noted.
"The women have medaled in all eight of their Olympic appearances and just won their 3rd gold," a third pointed out. "The men hadn't won gold since 1980, and have medaled in only half of their appearances. But of course, the women's invite was turned into a joke."
Topics: Olympics, US News, Sport, World News, News, Donald Trump, Politics
Rhianna Benson