2026 Winter Olympics: US player Brady Tkachuk on White House AI video
U.S. men’s ice hockey player Brady Tkachuk walked away from an AI-powered White House video in which he belittled the Canadians, saying “those words would never leave my mouth.”
The video was published on the official White House TikTok account after the USA beat Canada to win the gold medal at the Winter Olympics on Sunday, and it was marked that artificial intelligence was used.
This video features an edited clip of Tkachuk speaking at a press conference for last year’s 4-Nation Face-Off, where Canadians booed the US national anthem.
“They booed our national anthem, so I had to go out and teach the maple syrup eaters a lesson,” Tkachuk says. [expletive] a lesson. Canada, we got you little brother.”
Tkachuk, captain of the Ottawa Senators and after playing in the Canadian team’s first NHL game since the Olympics, said: “This is obviously fake, because it’s not my voice, my lips aren’t moving.
“I don’t have control of any of these accounts,” he added. “I know these words will never come out of my mouth, so I can’t do anything about it.
“That’s not what I said. I would never say that. That’s not who I am. So I guess I didn’t like that video.”
Some of Tkachuk’s teammates also apologized for laughing during Donald Trump’s congratulatory call when the president said he would “probably be impeached” if he did not invite the gold-winning women’s team and the men to the State of the Union address.
While women’s captain Hilary Knight said Trump’s joke was “distasteful,” she added that “the men are in a tough spot” and that there is a “real level of support and respect” between the two U.S. teams.
Tkachuk’s brother, Matthew Tkachuk, who plays for the Florida Panthers, said the teams were “very close” at the Milan-Cortina Games.
“We watched, went and supported other events together,” he said. “We love the women’s team, the women’s team loved us and we are very proud to have won the gold medal cleanly.”
USA teammate Jake Sanderson said the laughter was “a mistake that got a little blown out of proportion”, while reserve goalkeeper Jeremy Swayman said “we should have reacted differently” and Charlie McAvoy added that it “didn’t reflect how we felt”.
