Women’s Team USA Declines Trump Invite [Video]

The women’s Team USA Olympic ice hockey team politely declined President Donald Trump’s invitation to his State of the Union Address.

The team won the gold on Thursday, and learned of the invitation late Sunday. “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. Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate. They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgement.”

Team USA Men’s Ice Hockey

The men’s ice hockey team was also invited after winning the gold Sunday. when FBI Director Kash Patel called the President from the locker room. During Trump’s congratulatory locker room conversation, he said, “I must tell you, we’re going to have to invite the women’s team, you do know that.” Then Trump joked that if he did not, “I do believe I probably would be impeached.” In the video, the team and Patel laugh. The general public, however, did not.

Public Response

First, Patel posted on social media: “For the very concerned media – yes, I love American and was extremely humbled when my friends, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with they boys – Greatest country on earth and greatest sport on earth.”

His post received a quick and harsh response.

@wyjoenthusiast asked the men’s Olympic gold ice hockey team, “Do you have anything to say about the scene in your men’s locker room where the women’s team who made history in multiple ways and delivered you a gold medal was insulted and mocked and turned into a misogynistic punch line?

@ilasamsHOEnov commented, “USA men’s team wins their first gold medal  in 40 years and the first thing they do is go back to the locker room and party with Kash f*cking Patel.”

@paigeblockers said, “watching that locker room video actually made me sick. hard working, accomplished, talented women who just won a gold medal at the f*cking olympics are reduced to a joke and framed as a burden. genuinely f*ck everyone in that video.”

@bucketsnbooks commented, ‘women in this country deserve so much f*cking better. olympic gold medalists being reduced to the punch line of a joke for everyone in the good ol’ boys club to laugh at. genuinely f*ck you to everyone on this team. rot in hell.

@sankirttanam congratulated the men’s team “on winning gold and being the biggest losers of the Olympic Games. Quite the accomplishment.”

Overtime Wins

Both teams won their gold medals over Canada in overtime. “The women’s team trailed late in the contest before Hilary Knight deflected the puck into the goal with roughly two minutes to play. Megan Keller then pulled off a tremendous move on a defender before scoring the game winning goal in overtime to give Team USA the win,” according to ESPN.

The men won in a similar fashion. This was the men’s first win since the “Miracle on Ice” team won the gold 40 years ago. The woman’s Team USA also won more medals in the Winter Olympics than the men.

Member of Team USA Matthew Tkachuk said, “It’s been a whirlwind; it’s been amazing. It’s a dream of ours; it was such an amazing way to unite the country. We felt the support being across the Atlantic, now being back on home soil we could feel it the second the wheels hit the ground. So excited to be back in the greatest country in the world and so excited to celebrate.”

Additionally, he stated it was an honor to hear from Trump “and so we are definitely honored to represent him and the millions across the country.”

Sources:

ESPN: U.S. Women’s hockey declines Trump invite to State of the Union
NBC News: U.S. Women’s Hockey team declines Trump’s invitation to the State of the Union
Yahoo Sports: ‘Rot in hell’: Team USA hockey slammed for laughing at Trump’s sexist locker room joke

Featured Image by Joel Kowsky Courtesy of NASA HQ Photo’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License