American hockey player Brady Tkachuk said Thursday that he did not appreciate a doctored TikTok video shared by the White House that made it look like he was disparaging Canadians after winning Olympic gold, calling it fake and something he would never say.
The video includes fabricated audio of Tkachuk referring to Canadians as “maple syrup eating (expletive),” with the expletive bleeped out. The video carries a note saying it “contains AI-generated media.”
“It’s clearly fake because it’s not my voice and not my lips moving,” Tkachuk said. “I’m not in control of any of those accounts. … I know that those words would never come out of my mouth.”
Asked if he liked the video, Tkachuk said he did not: “I would never say that. That’s not who I am.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tkachuk also denied being the voice heard shouting “close the northern border” during Team USA’s celebratory phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump after Sunday’s 2-1 overtime win over Canada to win the gold medal at the Winter Olympics.
“I’ve been seeing stuff that people think it’s me, but if you watch the video, that’s not my voice and something that I never say,” Tkachuk said. “I don’t really know how that kind of took a storm on its own when I play here and give everything I have here.”
Tkachuk, a 26-year-old Arizona native, is the captain of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators and has played his entire career in the Canadian capital. He and other members of the U.S. team returned from Italy this week and are resuming the NHL season. Some attended Trump’s State of the Union speech in Washington on Tuesday night and were cheered by those in attendance.
The U.S. women also beat Canada 2-1 in overtime, the first time the Americans swept both Olympic hockey tournaments. The celebration of the twin victories has been shadowed by U.S. politics almost since the final horn of the men’s game.
Talking on a speakerphone in the postgame locker room, Trump extended an invitation to the White House to the men’s team, then added, “We’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that.” The president also joked that if he didn’t extend the invitation, he would probably be impeached. Some of the men’s players chuckled, something at least one said they regretted later. Tkachuk said he understood how the moment on the phone call could have been viewed by the women’s players.
“I mean, I get it,” he said. “We supported them, they supported us. You can’t control what other people say.”
A number of the men’s players traveled to Washington on Tuesday and visited Trump in the White House before being guests at the State of the Union. Many of the women’s players, meanwhile, were on the way back to their professional or college clubs. They didn’t learn they had also had been invited until late Sunday, making it difficult to change travel plans already disrupted by bad weather on the East Coast.
In his address, Trump said plans were in the works to have the women’s team visit the White House, though it was unclear when that could happen. The earliest the team could travel to Washington would be in late spring after the conclusion of the PWHL season.
In the meantime, rapper Flavor Flav scheduled a July celebration for the women’s team in Las Vegas for those who can make it.
Hilary Knight earlier this week said she doesn’t want to let what she called a “distasteful” joke by Trump get in the way of a historic performance by American women at the Winter Games. Players for both U.S. teams have been uniform in saying how much they bonded in the athletes’ village in Milan and supported each other on their runs to gold.
“Our two teams were so close. We watched other events together. We went and supported them. We loved the women’s team. The women’s team loved us and we’re so proud that we had a clean sweep of gold medals and just so much respect for them and the other athletes,” said Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk, Brady’s brother.
Brady Tkachuk was asked about being a proud American while being the Senators captain at a moment of heightened tension between the countries.
“First and foremost, I’ve given absolutely everything I have as an Ottawa Senator — blood, sweat and tears,” Tkachuk said. “When you represent the U.S., being an American, it’s an honor. There are only three teams that have won the gold medal for the U.S., so to be part of that is special.”
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AP writers Melissa Goldin, Tim Reynolds and John Wawrow as well as the Canadian Press contributed.
