The Trump administration has not been shy about bashing Canada, especially after the Olympic men’s hockey team won the gold medal in overtime, but one player took issue with a recent AI-generated TikTok posted by the White House that sounded like it was badmouthing Canadians.
“They booed our national anthem, so I had to come out and teach those maple syrup-eating bastards a lesson,” Team USA’s Brady Tkachuk apparently said in a video posted to the White House TikTok earlier this week. A disclaimer at the bottom of the video states that it “contains AI-generated media,” and the clip appears to be an altered version of Tkachuk’s press conference footage.
Tkachuk won the gold medal with the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team, defeating Canada 2-1, but plays professionally for the Canada-based National Hockey League team as captain of the Ottawa Senators.
But any hostility directed toward Canada by the White House is not shared by the players themselves, who told reporters Thursday that they did not condone the video.
“This is obviously fake. It’s not my voice and my lips aren’t moving,” Tkachuk said. “I don’t have control over those accounts. And oh yeah, I know those words won’t come out of my mouth. So there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Asked if he liked the video, Tkachuk said, “I would never say that. That’s not me. So, yeah, I don’t think I like that video.”
“If you watch the video, you can see that it’s not my voice, it’s something I never said, and I really don’t understand how that just kind of took off by itself when I’m out here playing and giving my all here,” Tkachuk said. “It’s something that never crosses my mind, and I never really say it out loud.”
“I would never say anything like that,” he added.
Four other players on the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team also play for teams based in Canada.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment on Tkachuk’s remarks and the video itself.
Commenting on President Trump’s previous provocation to make Canada the 51st United States “I know I don’t want that, because I still want to play in a best-on-best tournament,” Tkachuk told reporters at the state.
TikTok is just the latest example of the White House mocking Canada by promoting Team USA’s victory and subsequent visit to Washington on social media.
On Monday, President Trump posted an AI-generated video of himself playing hockey in a suit and red tie, throwing one Canadian player onto the ice and punching another. Beneath the video was an old social media post from former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom Trump often referred to as “The Governor,” which read, “You can’t take our country away, and you can’t win our game.”
The video ends with AI-generated U.S. players hugging him.
President Trump’s comments about the Olympic women’s hockey team, which also won gold against Canada at the Olympics, also caused controversy this week.
“I have to say, we have to bring the women’s team, and you know that,” Trump said on FBI Director Kash Patel’s speakerphone as he invited the men’s team to the White House and the State of the Union. President Trump said that if he didn’t invite them, “I believe he would probably be impeached.”
The captain of the U.S. Olympic women’s hockey team called President Trump’s comments an “offensive” joke. The women’s team declined to attend the State of the Union, citing scheduling issues.
This isn’t the first time the White House has found itself in trouble over AI-generated videos. Just weeks ago, President Trump posted a racist video depicting former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys, and blamed his staff for not watching the video in its entirety. The White House often doubles down when criticized, but the video was removed after widespread bipartisan backlash, including from Tim Scott, the only Black Republican senator.
