United States Olympic ladies’s hockey group captain Hilary Knight known as President Trump’s invitation to the White House “a distasteful joke” on Wednesday throughout an look on ESPN’s SportsCenter.
The invite got here after Trump prolonged a welcome to the boys’s group by way of a cellphone name on Sunday, as celebration ensued within the locker room following their 2-1 gold medal overtime win in opposition to Canada.
“I must tell you, we’re gonna have to bring the women’s team — you do know that,” Trump mentioned over a speakerphone held by FBI Director Kash Patel, who was videoed celebrating with the group.
Trump mentioned that if the ladies’s group wasn’t invited, he “probably would be impeached.” His response was then echoed by laughter from these within the locker room.
The ladies’s group earned their third all-time Olympic gold medal after defeating Canada 2-1 in overtime on the Milan Cortina Winter Games on Thursday, with Knight scoring the late game-tying objective.
The ladies’s group declined their invitation to Trump’s State of the Union deal with on account of prior educational {and professional} commitments.
In the ESPN interview, Knight, a five-time Olympic medalist, mentioned the controversy surrounding Trump’s invite “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.”
In Sunday’s viral locker room video, a number of members of the boys’s group might be heard laughing on the suggestion that the President could possibly be impeached for not inviting the gold-medal-winning ladies’s squad.
The trade between the boys’s gamers, Trump and Patel, drew vital backlash because the video circulated on social media.
“We should’ve reacted differently,” Team USA and Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman mentioned on Wednesday. “We are so excited for the women’s team and we have so much respect for the women’s team – to share that gold medal with them is something that we will forever be grateful for.”
When requested about how the boys’s gamers reacted to the ladies’s provide go to the White House this week, Knight described the laughter within the locker room as a ‘quick lapse’ in judgment.
Despite the friction, Knight emphasised her pleasure within the males’s gold-medal victory, noting that each groups must be celebrating a historic week for American hockey somewhat than navigating political fallout.
“I think the guys were in a tough spot, so I think it’s a shame this storyline and narrative has kind of blown up and is overshadowing that connection and genuine interest in one another and cheering each other on,” Knight mentioned.
Rapper Flavor Flav, who served as Team USA’s hypeman in Italy, prolonged his personal invitation to the ladies’s group via social media on Monday, calling for “a real celebration” in Las Vegas.
Knight mentioned she hoped to have fun the accomplishments of the group in Las Vegas with the Public Enemy star however commitments for gamers within the PWHL and school groups have been stopping an instantaneous social gathering.
A contingent of the boys’s group, who flew to Washington on a army airplane, acquired six minutes of accolades from Trump throughout the State of the Union deal with Tuesday night time.
“Our country is winning again. In fact, we’re winning so much that we really don’t know what to do about it,” Trump mentioned. “To prove that point, to prove that perfect here with us tonight is a group of winners who just made the entire nation proud: the men’s gold medal Olympic hockey team.”
Trump ensured that the ladies’s group would “soon” be making a journey to Washington throughout his deal with to the nation, however Team USA has but to substantiate an upcoming go to.
Knight characterised the current controversy as a “really good learning point, to really focus on how we talk about women, not only in sport but in the industry. Women aren’t less than and their achievements shouldn’t be overshadowed by anything else other than how great they are.”
With Knight’s last-gasp equalizer within the Olympic ultimate in Milan, the veteran wrote herself into US hockey historical past, turning into the ladies’s all-time Olympic objectives and factors chief.
She is ready to be again on the ice along with her skilled group, the PWHL’s Seattle Torrent, on Friday.