For both U.S. Olympians and American spectators, the 2026 Olympics were difficult to navigate. Many people were forced to grapple with the question of whether it’s possible to separate feelings of patriotism and pride that might come with supporting U.S. medalists from anger concerning the atrocities of the current administration. U.S. Olympic freeskier Hunter Hess summed up this tension well in a comment he made recently to the press: “I think it brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now … just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.”
A New York Times contributing opinion writer, Esau McCaulley, echoed the latter part of Hess’s statement. He acknowledged the pain and terror gripping the U.S. right now, while still affirming “Team U.S.A. Is Not Team White House.” McCaulley makes a good point: Perhaps Team USA should be seen more as representatives of the people of the U.S., rather than the U.S. government. Even so, it doesn’t help his case that the gold medal-winning U.S. Men’s Hockey Team recently ‘bowed’ to President Donald Trump, accepting his invitation to his State of the Union address. On the same phone call that Trump invited the men’s team to the White House, he made a back-handed, arguably misogynistic remark about having to invite the gold medal-winning women’s team too, joking that he would probably be impeached if he didn’t. In the video, other than one voice that can be heard quietly saying “absolutely,” the joke was met with an uproar of laughter from many of the hockey players in the room. It appears that the U.S. Hockey team is just a boys’ club that likes to belittle its female counterparts.
Given the men’s team’s excitement and willingness to play along with Trump’s mockery of women in the video of their call, it’s no surprise that most of them attended the State of the Union address. Notably, 5 players did not: Brock Nelson, Jackson LaCombe, Jake Guentzel, Jake Oettinger and Kyle Connor. None of the five players have publicly mentioned any other reason for this decision than to get ready for their return to NHL play, which was on pause during the Olympics. It is perhaps worth noting, though, that four of those five players were born in, or spent a good part of their upbringing in, Minnesota, the site of the recent immigrant crackdown led by the Trump administration.
Two of the U.S. Men’s Hockey Team’s star players, brothers Jack and Quinn Hughes, were on Good Morning America discussing winning Olympic gold when the State of the Union was brought up. Quinn spoke for himself and his brother, commenting, “We’re excited to go … It’s gonna be special for us.” Evidently, the brothers have no qualms about visiting the residence of one of the most controversial presidents of all time.
Quinn then shifted to discussing the controversy surrounding the men’s and women’s teams, saying, “We’re extremely happy for them. Obviously, there’s a lot going on on social media surrounding our team and their team, but over the last couple of summers we did a lot of training with them and got to know a lot of those girls really well.” While expressing pride in the women’s team and sharing that they trained together is a nice thought, it doesn’t really suffice as an apology for being complicit while their colleagues were ridiculed.
To make matters worse, Jack Hughes appears to have doubled down on their behavior in comments made while speaking to reporters in Miami. Truly supporting the women’s team entails speaking out against the men mocking them. It also means taking accountability for one’s mistakes instead of calling them “almost nothing.” This, however, takes a level of self-awareness, humility and empathy that might be lost on some of these players.
However, it appears that there is one player whose empathy might not be lost on: Charlie McAvoy, a defenseman for the Olympic team. He recently spoke out in an interview, commenting, “[I’m] certainly sorry for how we responded to it in that moment. Things just happened really quick there. If you know the men’s team … and how we’ve supported [the women’s team], it’s certainly not reflective of how we feel and look at them and their accomplishments.”
Only a couple of other players have spoken out. The stark majority of the team has yet to give an apology, and I personally am not optimistic we will hear one from anyone else. But if even more of these players would speak out and make similar comments, they would have the potential to shift the perceived image of their organization for the better.
While Hilary Knight, captain of the women’s team, stated in an interview that she found Trump’s joke “distasteful and unfortunate,” she also asserted that explaining Trump’s behavior is not her responsibility. Rather, she explained that what is her responsibility is “shifting the narrative of this amazing accomplishment that we all did together. And, granted, the men’s team and women’s team did it together.”
While Knight was kind to acknowledge the shared success of both teams, despite receiving few apologies from the men, she also emphasized that “These women are amazing, and whatever is going on should never outshine or minimize their work and our success on the world stage.”
It is unfortunate that all of the controversy has distracted so much from the significance of the women’s victory. But despite the president’s attempt to undermine their success, their victory can still embody a sense of hope for our nation and spectators across the globe — hope for a world where men and women are truly treated as equals.
