A star player on the men’s national hockey team has backed his fellow athletes after President Donald Trump made a cruel and dismissive joke about the women’s squad.
“People are so negative about things,” Jack Hughes, who plays forward for Team USA, told reporters in Miami on Monday.
“I think everyone in that locker rooms knows how much we support them, how proud we are of them and we know the same way we feel about them, they feel about us,” he added.
Hughes’ comments come after Trump invited both the men and women’s national hockey teams to visit the White House following their stunning gold medal wins at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
The men took home the gold medal for the first time since 1980 with a 2-1 victory over Canada, while the women also beat Canada by the same score.
“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” Trump said at the time of the invitation. If he did not invite them, “I do believe I probably would be impeached,” he added.
The women’s team has since declined the president’s offer.
“We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal-winning U.S. Women’s Hockey Team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement,” a spokesperson for USA Hockey said.
“Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate,” they went on, adding they were “honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgement.
Asked whether he was looking forward to meeting the president at the White House, Hughes said Monday that he’s “excited” while also lamenting that both teams’ victories had turned “political.”
“No matter what your views are we’re super excited to go to the White House tomorrow and be part of that,” he said.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story.
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