US men’s hockey player apologises for reaction to Trump's 'sexist' joke after teammate defended president
Charlie McAvoy is one of the latest athletes to speak out on the viral locker room incident
Team USA men’s hockey player, Charlie McAvoy, has issued an apology for his reaction to US President Donald Trump's 'sexist' joke about the women's squad.
On Sunday (22 February), the US won the men's Olympic ice hockey gold medal for the first time in 46 years, beating Canada 2-1, with the women's team also taking home the gold medal with a 2-1 victory against Canada a few days prior on Thursday (19 February).
The double-victory was soon overshadowed by a now-viral clip of what happened during the men's locker room winning celebration.
The footage in question shows FBI Director Kash Patel chugging a bottle of beer and holding up a phone as Trump called to congratulate the team on their success.
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On speakerphone, Trump can be heard offering to fly the team to Washington for Tuesday’s (24 February) State of the Union address.
"We’re giving the State of the Union speech on Tuesday night. I could send a military plane or something, if you would like to. It’s the coolest night. It’s the biggest speech," he said while the team cheered 'we’re in'.
"And we have to - I must tell you - we’re going to have to bring the women’s team," Trump continued, as several team members laughed on, before Trump concluded: "[If I don’t] do that, I do believe I probably would be impeached, OK?"
Trump's comments, along with the team's silence or laughing reaction, have sparked major backlash online - especially given the fact that the women's team have secured the most gold medals for the United States for three Olympic seasons in a row, and, since 1998, they have never ever missed the podium.
The men's victory on Sunday, however, was their first gold medal in over four decades, since 1980.
The women's team ultimately declined the invitation from Trump to attend his address on Tuesday due to 'timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments'.
The men's team attended, but five players were absent, citing games the following day as the reason.
Trump later claimed the team 'will soon be coming to the White House', but their own stance remains fairly non-committal.
"Players are back competing with their professional and collegiate teams and are in the midst of their season," a spokesperson told Tyla. "They’re honoured and grateful to be invited and any opportunity to visit the White House as a team will be based on their schedules once their seasons conclude."
Men's team response
US men's team player Jeremy Swayman spoke out on the matter, claiming he has 'so much respect for the women's team' and admitted that laughing was an error on their part.
In a video shared by the New England Hockey Journal's journalist Evan Marinofsky, he was asked: "Jeremy, there was some reaction to the post-game video. What is your reaction to that?"
The sportsman replied: "Yep, should have reacted differently. We know that. We're so excited for the women's team. We have so much respect for the women's team, and to share that gold medal with them is something that we'll be forever grateful for."
He added: "You know, now that we're home, we get to share that together forever and see the incredible support that we have from the USA, sharing this incredible gold medal."
Jack Hughes, who scored the winning goal, later issued a response to the back of Swayman’s, with the New York Post Sports posting the clip on X.
In the video, Hughes can be seen sitting in front of reporters as he’s asked if he 'agrees' with the goalie’s words.
He responded by saying that 'in the moment' when the 'president calls', things happened.
Saying it 'is what it is', Hughes shared that they have 'so much respect for the women’s team' and that they also respect the men’s team too.
Calling everyone just 'proud Americans', the hockey player went on to say they’re all just 'happy we swept the Olympics'.
'People are so negative out there'
Hughes’ latest statement came after he initially told the Daily Mail: "They've got busy schedules, too. Everyone is giving us backlash for all the social media stuff today.
"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."
Hughes continued: "Our relationship with them, over the course of being in the Athletes' Village, I think we are so tight with their group.
"After we won the gold medal, we were in the cafeteria at 3.30 am in the morning with them, and we go from there, pack our bags and we're on the bus.
"People are so negative about things. I think everyone in that locker room knows how much we support them, how proud we are of them and we know the same way we feel about them, they feel about us."
Hughes reportedly said in response to whether he was excited to fly out: "Yeah, we're excited. Everything is so political. We're athletes.
"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."
Charlie McAvoy's response
Following Hughes' initial remarks, US men's team player McAvoy has now also spoken out and apologised for the locker room incident.
"Certainly sorry for how we responded to it in that moment. You know, things just happened really quick there," McAvoy told reporters ahead of an NHL game Thursday (26 February), via France24.
"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," he added.
Women's team response
Team USA women's hockey team captain, Hilary Knight, has also spoken up about the 'distasteful' joke.
Speaking on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Wednesday (25 February), Knight said: "I thought it was sort of a distasteful joke, and unfortunately, that is overshadowing a lot of the success, the success of just women at the Olympics carrying for Team USA and having amazing gold medal feats.
"We're just focusing on celebrating the women in our room, the extraordinary efforts, and continuing to celebrate three gold medals in program history as well as the double gold for both men's and women's at the same time," Knight said. "And really not detract from that with a distasteful joke."
She then maintained that there is still a mutual respect between the women's and men's hockey squads.
"I think there's a genuine level of support there and respect," the athlete said. "I think that's being overshadowed by a quick lapse."
"I think the guys were in a tough spot, so I think it's a shame this storyline and narrative have kind of blown up and overshadowed that connection and genuine interest in one another and cheering each other on," Knight added.
Topics: Donald Trump, News, Olympics, Sport, US News, World News, Politics
Rhiannon Ingle