Retired American soccer players Abby Wambach and Julie Foudy said they wish the U.S. Men’s Hockey Team rejected President Donald Trump’s offer to visit the White House after their gold medal win and took accountability for their response to the president’s comments about also having to invite the women’s team.
‘Stop laughing. Don’t laugh and just, I don’t know, knock it all the (expletive) way off,’ Wambach said during a recent episode of her ‘Welcome to the Party’ podcast with Foudy. ‘That is how I feel. Stop (expletive) laughing at things that aren’t funny.’
Following an Olympic win for the men’s hockey team, Trump spoke to the players on a locker room phone call, inviting the team to the State of the Union address on Tuesday, Feb. 24, which most of the players accepted. The president briefly mentioned the women’s hockey team, which also brought home gold, saying he had to invite them too, or he would be ‘impeached.’ The comment sparked a collective laugh among the men’s hockey team, which has not been received well by many women athletes or fans.
Foudy said though she can understand that the men may have been caught up in the moment after the big win, she wishes more accountability would have been taken in the aftermath.
‘After, when realizing what happened, in its full capacity, the thing that sticks with us is, how do you not then say, ‘That was wrong. We shouldn’t have done that,” Foudy said. ‘You should reject the offer to go to the State of the Union and instead, many of them, accepted it because now, you’re not apologizing, you’re doubling down.’
Hilary Knight: ‘Distasteful’
Olympian Hilary Knight, captain of the U.S. women’s hockey team, called Trump’s comments ‘distasteful’ during an interview with ‘Good Morning America’ on Thursday, Feb. 26.
‘Our words matter and how we speak about women matters, and we need to celebrate this team as we’ve earned our celebrations,’ she said.
Kelly Pannek: ‘Don’t know why we expect differently’
Fellow Olympian Kelly Pannek echoed her teammate, Knight.
‘Our experiences with the men’s team (are) different, I think, and that’s something that we all know being there what it felt like to have their support throughout the tournament,’ Pannek said during a recent interview.
As for the men’s call with the president, Pannek said she wasn’t surprised by it.
‘I don’t know why we expect differently,’ she said with a nervous laugh. ‘I think for us, it’s just about getting back to the focus on our team and what our team accomplished.’
Ilona Maher: ‘Not particularly shocked but definitely disappointed’
Olympian gold medalist and professional rugby player Ilona Maher took to her Instagram story on Feb. 25 to share a short, straightforward message: ‘For real, I’m not particularly shocked but definitely disappointed.’
Megan Rapinoe: ‘Hell no.’
During a news conference on Wednesday, Feb. 25, retired American soccer player Megan Rapinoe said the ‘wretched phone call’ with the president should not overshadow the historic win.
‘I think everybody who watched that clip or saw that moment said, ‘hell no.’ You might not be for everybody, whatever, but you’re for us. You’re ours here in Seattle. You’re ours here in America,’ Rapinoe told members of the women’s hockey team. ‘Thank you for this incredible moment that you gave us that will be memories for the rest of our lives.’
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.