Ottawa Senators captain and USA gold medal winner Brady Tkachuk says a White House TikTok video featuring him and a dubbed voice that insults Canadians is ‘clearly fake.’
The video, released after the gold medal victory, says it uses artificial intelligence. Tkachuk’s comments after a fight-filled win against Canada at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off are dubbed with him talking about giving those ‘maple syrup eating (expletives) a lesson.’ The video then shifts to highlights of the USA’s victory on Sunday.
‘It’s clearly fake because it’s not my voice and not my lips moving,’ Tkachuk said during a media availability on Feb. 26. ‘I’m not in control of any of those accounts. I know that those words would never come out of my mouth. I can’t do anything about it.’
Asked if he liked the video, he said, ‘It’s not my voice. It’s not what I was saying. I would never say that. It’s not who I am. So I guess I don’t like that video.’
Tkachuk also addressed the postgame call with President Donald Trump in which the team was invited to the State of the Union address and White House. The president said he’d ‘have to bring the women’s team’ and joked that he probably would be impeached if he didn’t. The USA players laughed at the comments.
‘It was just a whirlwind of a moment that you can’t really control what somebody says and just caught off guard a little bit,’ Tkachuk said. ‘When you’re talking to the president 10 minutes after achieving your dream, just the fact that you’re talking to the president, you can’t believe that you’re talking to (him).’
Tkachuk, who attended the women’s semifinals with brother Matthew, said the men’s team was supportive of the women’s players and used that team’s gold-medal victory as motivation for its own.
‘When Megan Keller scored the OT winner, I think there was 15 of us back in the lounges in the village and we’re all standing and going nuts and clapping,’ Brady said.
He added that he was not the person who shouted, ‘Close the northern border’ on the call.
‘If you watch the video, that’s not my voice and something I’d never say,’ he said.
Tkachuk was one of 20 players who went to the White House and the State of the Union.
‘Being an American citizen, you never really think, ‘Oh I’m going to go to the White House, see the White House, be in the Oval Office.’ For it to happen it is really cool,’ he said.
Afterward, he went home to see his family where his son pretended the gold medal was the wheel of a car. He’s putting the medal away for safe keeping. ‘I’m not telling anyone where it is,’ he said.
As he resumes his NHL season, he remains in awe of the U.S. team’s accomplishment.
‘It still feels like I’m dreaming and someone’s got to wake me up,’ he said.