Team USA’s Hockey Captain Hilary Knight Doesn't Isn't Trying to Talk About Trump's Sexist Joke
It’s been a whirlwind of one thing after another for Team USA’s hockey teams, all because both the women’s and men’s teams won gold in overtime against Team Canada at the Milan Cortina Olympics in a historic, first-of-its-kind, double-whammy win. What was the butterfly’s first wing-flap that caused all the mayhem? The year was 1980, when podcaster-turned-FBI Director Kash Patel was born…
Forty-six years later, on Sunday night, Patel made his way into the U.S. men’s locker room after their win, donning their (probably, kids-sized) sports jersey. He then called Trump and put him on speaker, who invited the team to his State of the Union address on Tuesday. He joked he’d have to invite the women’s team too, because he’d be “impeached” otherwise. (No other reason!) Cue an uproar of laughter, followed by a polite rejection from a women’s team spokesperson on Monday. On Tuesday, as the men’s team attended the State of the Union and ruffled each other’s hair to a round of “USA!” chants from Republicans, Trump threw out another threat-shaped invite for the women’s team. On Wednesday, another vague rejection from a spokesperson.
Now, our captain is chiming in.
Speaking to ESPN’s SportsCenter on Wednesday, captain Hilary Knight called out Trump for his “distasteful” joke. “We’re just focusing on celebrating the women in our room, the extraordinary efforts, and continue 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, and really not detract from that with a distasteful joke,” she said. “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.”
She was also asked about Trump’s comments during a gold medalist press conference for Seattle Torrent, saying, “It’s a great teaching point to really shine light on how women should be championed for their amazing feats. And now I have to sort of sit and anybody has to sit in front of you and explain someone else’s behavior.” Speaking to the reporter, she continued, “It’s not my responsibility.”
Knight is the most decorated player in U.S. women’s hockey history, with five Olympics to her name, two of which she helped the team win its three golds.
Some of the men’s players have also spoken up since Tuesday, with a few of them saying they regret their behavior. Backup goalie Jeremy Swayman said he “should’ve reacted differently”; Charlie McAvoy said he’s “certainly sorry for how we responded to it in that moment”; and Jake Sanderson said it was “a mistake.” But, well, if you think that all sounds too good to be true, you’re absolutely right: Sanderson continued by saying “things got blown out of proportion.” Again… leave it to the men to kill my high!
But if we’re really considering who the real winners are in this situation—well, barring the fact that everyone involved in this saga got the highest possible esteem in the world’s biggest sporting event—it’s not the ones who ate McDonald’s burger and fries at a White House dining table. Because the women’s team, in a widely recognized contrast, got to eat with Stanley Tucci at a restaurant in Milan.
It’s a time for “feeling the love and support and getting back in our respective communities and sharing this journey with them,” Knight said in her interview with ESPN. “That’s what this is all about.” Too bad the men’s team didn’t feel up to that Sunday night!