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US ice hockey star Brady Tkachuk has said he does not appreciate an AI video released by the White House that shows him insulting Canadians.
Tkachuk played in the Americans’ victory over Canada at the Winter Olympics on Sunday, which secured the US men their first gold medal since 1980. In the wake of that win, the White House’s TikTok account published video of Tkachuk saying: “They booed our national anthem, so I had to come out and teach those maple syrup eating fuckers a lesson.”
Tkachuk never said those words and the video, which has had more than 10m views, is labelled as AI-generated.
“Well, it’s clearly fake, because it’s not my voice, not my lips moving,” Tkachuk said on Thursday. “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.”
Tkachuk has good reason to distance himself from the video: he plays in the Canadian capital, where he is captain of the Ottawa Senators.
“It’s not my voice. It’s not what I was saying,” he continued. “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.”
Donald Trump called the US team after their win and some believe Tkachuk could be heard shouting “Close the northern border” as the president congratulated the team. He denied those claims on Thursday.
“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,” Tkachuk said. “I don’t know how that took a storm on its own when I give everything I have here. It’s crazy when things go on social media, how fast they go. I would never say anything like that.”
The fallout from Trump’s call, which was captured on video, does not end there. The president was accused of making a joke at the expense of the US women’s team during the call, when he invited the men’s players to the White House to celebrate their gold medal.
“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” Trump said before laughing and adding he would be “impeached” if he didn’t. Some players laughed at the joke. The US women also won gold at this year’s Olympics.
On Wednesday, US women’s captain Hilary Knight called the joke “distasteful”. On Thursday, Tkachuk said he understood why Knight and her teammates would be insulted by Trump’s comments and some of the players’ reactions.
“I mean, I get it,” he said. “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.”
Tkachuk said the laughter from his teammates at Trump’s comments may have come because they were caught off guard. “You’re talking to the President 10 minutes after you achieve your dream,” he said.
Tkachuk was among the 20 US men’s players who visited Trump at the White House after their victory and attended Tuesday’s State of the Union address. The women’s team declined the invitation, citing travel issues and scheduling.
“It was special,” Tkachuk said of the visit. “Being an American citizen, you never really think you’re going to see the White House and be in the Oval Office.”
The women’s team has yet to determine whether it will visit the White House – Trump mentioned plans in his Tuesday speech but nothing has been confirmed – but they are said to have accepted an invitation from rapper and women’s sports aficionado Flavor Flav to attend a Las Vegas event celebrating their gold medal.
Flavor Flav posted his invitation soon after the women declined the State of the Union trip. The team accepted his invitation without input from USA Hockey, according to the Associated Press, and it’s unclear if all players will attend.
