Brady Tkachuk, a bruising winger on the American Olympic men’s ice hockey team, was none too pleased with an AI-generated video the White House released on social media this weekend that appeared to show him criticizing Canada.
The video featured Tkachuk, who plays for the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators full time, calling the Canadian team “maple syrup eating f—-s” in a press conference, before cutting to highlights from the gold medal match of the Olympics, which saw the U.S. men’s team take down Canada by a 2-1 score in overtime. The White House bleeped the AI-generated profanity in the video.
Tkachuk made it clear he didn’t condone the language in the video.
“It’s not my voice. It’s not what I was saying,” he told reporters at a media scrum Thursday. “I would never say that. That’s not who I am, so yeah, I guess I don’t like that video because that just would never come out of my mouth.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
With the threat of ever-changing tariffs and a barrage of 51st state rhetoric, President Donald Trump has antagonized Canada since before his return to the White House early last year. He called the American team shortly after they won gold last Sunday, inviting them to the White House and cracking a controversial joke that he’d soon have to do the same for the American women’s team, which also won gold at the Olympics. The women’s team declined Trump’s initial invitation to attend his State of the Union address, according to CNN.
The men’s team, including Tkachuk, visited the White House on Tuesday, later making a short appearance during Trump’s State of the Union address.
“It just was special,” he said of the visit.
Tkachuk is the captain of the NHL’s Senators, who ply their trade in the capital of the Great North. Local fans have had a frosty reaction to his international triumph. But he said he had nothing to do with the administration’s dig on social media.
“Well, it’s clearly fake, because it’s not my voice, and not my lips moving,” he said. “I’m not in control of any of those accounts. I know that those words would never come out of my mouth.”