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US hockey star slams White House video depicting him using slur against Canadian team
US men’s hockey player Brady Tkachuk has hit out at the White House after an AI video was shared showing him insulting the Canadian team.
In the aftermath of the team’s Winter Olympic triumph, this was clearly not something he wanted.
The US ice hockey teams were successful at the Winter Olympics
The 2026 Winter Olympics couldn’t have gone better for US hockey.
Both the men and women came home with the gold medal, including a historic first win for the men since the ‘Miracle on Ice’ back in 1980.
However, things took a bit of a sour turn afterwards when President Donald Trump was seen to have insulted the women’s team afterwards during a call with the men.
Despite both men and women’s teams being invited to the White House and State of the Union speech by the President, the women did not attend and some of the men also declined the invite - although their reasons for not attending differed.
Since then, the White House has been dining out on their success, and now it has shared some controversial video that hasn’t gone down well.
Brady Tkachuk wasn’t happy with the White House AI video
Ottawa Senators captain Tkachuk said that he was no fan of an AI-generated TikTok video that showed him and his brother Matthew during a press conference while ‘Free Bird’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The AI Brady then said: "They booed our national anthem, so I had to come out and teach those maple syrup eating f***s a lesson."
The clip was viewed millions of times online, which led the 26-year-old, who plies his trade in Canada, to respond.
"Well, it's clearly fake, because it's not my voice, not my lips moving,” he said.
"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."
When asked if he enjoyed the video, he responded: "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."
He also addressed rumors that he was heard shouting ‘close the northern border’ after the team’s congratulatory call with Trump.
"I've been seeing stuff that people think it's me. But if you watch the video, it's not my voice or something that I never say,” he added.
"It's crazy when things go on social media, how fast they go. I would never say anything like that."
Donald Trump created controversy for the Team USA hockey players
On that call, Trump himself was accused of insulting the women’s hockey team and belittling them, as he told the men: "I must tell you, we're going to have to bring the women's team, you do know that,
"I do believe I probably would be impeached."
Team USA player Hilary Knight later said she thought the joke was ‘distasteful’ and that it ‘unfortunately is overshadowing’ the team’s achievements.
Tkachuk understood that feeling, stating: "I mean, I get it,
"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."
On Trump’s remarks, he said the players were ‘caught off guard’
"I don't really have an answer. It's a whirlwind of a moment," he said. "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."