Olympian Hilary Knight responded to President Donald Trump’s viral call with the U.S. men’s hockey team on ESPN on Wednesday.
‘I thought it was sort of a distasteful joke, and 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,’ Knight said on ‘SportsCenter.’
‘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.’
During a locker room call with the men’s team, President Donald J. Trump invited the players to the State of the Union address. He briefly mentioned the women’s hockey team, which also won gold during the Olympics, saying he had to invite them too, or he would be ‘impeached.’ The men’s hockey team laughed at the president’s remark, which Knight addressed in her conversation with ESPN.
‘I think there’s a genuine level of support there and respect (between the men’s and women’s teams), and I think that’s being overshadowed by sort of a quick lapse,’ Knight said.
‘The guys were in a tough spot, so it’s a shame that sort of this storyline and narrative has kind of blown up and overshadowing kind of that connection and genuine interest in one another and cheering one another on.’
President Trump’s now viral call generated varying reactions and backlash, including rapper Flavor Flav extending an invitation to the women’s team for an alternative celebration. Team USA’s women declined the President’s invitation, citing timing and previous commitments. On Tuesday, President Trump said they would ‘soon’ visit the White House.
Several members of the men’s team eventually addressed the chatter surrounding the call, including Olympian Jack Hughes and his brother, Quinn Hughes. ‘People are so negative about things. I think everyone in that locker room knows how much we support them, how proud we are of them, and we know the same way we feel about them, they feel about us,’ Jack Hughes said.
‘You know, we’re really happy for them,’ Quinn Hughes said. ‘Obviously, a lot going on social media right now surrounding our team and their team, but in the last couple of summers, we’ve done a lot of training with them and got to know a lot of those girls really well.’
Knight shared that the men’s and women’s teams have supported one another in the Olympic village and on the global and professional stages. She says she looks forward to the relationships continuing. Knight also revealed what she thinks the moment taught people.
‘I think this is just a really good learning point to really focus on how we talk about women, not only in sport but in industry,’ Knight said.
‘Women aren’t less than, and our achievements shouldn’t be overshadowed by anything else other than how great they are.’