Photo: Getty Images
Ottawa Senators captain and U.S. men's ice hockey team star Brady Tkachuk said he didn't appreciate an AI-doctored video shared by the White House's TikTok account depicting him disparaging Canadians.
The video, which was shared shortly after the Americans' 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics gold medal game victory against Canada on Sunday (February 22), featured doctored footage of his and brother Matthew Tkachuk's press conference, which dubbed him saying, "They booed our national anthem, so I had to come out and teach those maple syrup eating f---s a lesson" as 'Free Bird' by Lynyrd Skynyrd, the goal song for both the men's and women's U.S. ice hockey teams, played.
"Well, it's clearly fake, because it's not my voice, not my lips moving," Tkachuk said Thursday during in his first media availability in Ottawa since returning from Milan via ESPN. "I'm not in control of any of those accounts. I know that those words would never come out of my mouth. So, I can't do anything about it."
"It's not my voice. It's not what I was saying," he added when asked if he enjoyed the clip. "I would never say that. That's not who I am, so I guess I don't like that video because that would never come out of my mouth, and never had that thought."
Tkachuk also addressed accusations that he was the person who shouted, "Close the northern border!" when President Donald Trump called the team after the gold medal victory.
"I've been seeing stuff that people think it's me. But if you watch the video, it's not my voice or something that I never say," Tkachuk said via ESPN. "I don't know how that took a storm on its own when I give everything I have here.
"It's crazy when things go on social media, how fast they go. I would never say anything like that."
Tkachuk also addressed Trump's controversial joke that he'd also have to invite the U.S. women's ice hockey team, who also defeated Canada to win gold, to the State of the Union address or he "would be impeached" and U.S. women's ice hockey team captain Hilary Knight called it "distasteful."
"I mean, I get it," Tkachuk said via ESPN. "We support them, they support us. You can't control what other people say. It was fun being around them, seeing how they play and the excellence around them.
"If I see one of them, we'll talk about the excitement of what we can control, which is to be gold medalists."
Tkachuk was then asked why the men's team laughed at the joke in the viral clip.
"I don't really have an answer. It's a whirlwind of a moment," he respnded. "You can't control what somebody says. I guess got caught off guard a little bit. You're talking to the president 10 minutes after you achieve your dream."
Tkachuk is one of five Team USA players who represented NHL teams based in Canada, along with Senators teammate Jake Sanderson, Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews, and Winnipeg Jets winger Kyle Connor and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.