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Players from the men’s and women’s Olympic gold medal-winning hockey teams appeared together on “Saturday Night Live” amid the latest political controversy.
The men’s and women’s players had been publicly pitted against each other after President Donald Trump called the men’s team after their gold medal win against Canada to invite them to the State of The Union, joking that he would have to invite the women too or face impeachment. The joke drew backlash against the men’s team after the players laughed in response, primarily from American and Canadian liberals.
Female players Hilary Knight and Megan Keller were joined by male players Jack and Quinn Hughes on SNL, making light of the latest controversy.
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Knight appeared to be referring to Trump’s joke.
“It was just going to be us, but we thought we’d invite the guys, too,” Knight said.
Knight delivered another punchline after Quinn Hughes said the last time the men won gold was 46 years ago at the 1980 Lake Placid Games.
Knight followed by saying the women’s team last won gold two Olympics ago, at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games.
Jack Hughes responded, saying, “Nice burn. These gold medals aren’t just for us, they’re for all hockey fans.”
“Heated Rivalry” actor Connor Storrie hosted the episode.
Several mainstream media outlets wrote op-eds condemning the men’s team for laughing at the joke and then visiting the White House to celebrate and attend Trump’s State of the Union address.
During an interview on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” on Friday, Hughes opened up about his respect for women’s team after McAfee appeared to refer to the controversy by joking that Hughes and his teammates “hate” the women players.
“We hang out with them so much, the women’s team. We supported them. Just like we were at their games, they were at our games,” Hughes said.
Hughes appeared to address recent criticism of his team for its response to Trump’s joke.
“With all these people talking, how many of them watched their gold medal game? Me and Quinn Hughes were at the game. We were at the game until overtime kind of ended on the glass and we were jumping up and down, so excited for these girls, so excited for them to win,” Hughes said.
“And how many of those people saw the gold medal game, saw their semifinal game? Like 10 out of 10 of our players went to their game in the round-robin. We supported them so much and we’re so proud of them. We’re so happy that they won and they brought back a gold medal, and you know, I brought it back both and the men’s medals. incredible for American hockey.”
Jack Hughes, who scored the game-winning overtime goal against Canada to win gold, reflected on his interaction with the player on the U.S. women’s team who did the same in Keller.
“Me and her had a great moment in the cafeteria after her gold medal match. We played Slovakia the next night and it was like a late game. And we were in the pasta line — me and Megan. They were just getting ready to go back out and I just gave her a huge hug and I said, ‘I’m so happy for you. I’m so proud of you,'” Hughes said.
“A few nights later I saw her again in [cafeteria]and we took a good picture and, um, she just gave me a big hug and was so happy for me too.”
US women’s hockey captain Hilary Knight said on Wednesday’s edition of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” that Trump’s “tasteless joke” has “overshadow[ed]”women’s success.
“I thought it was kind of a distasteful joke, and it unfortunately overshadows a lot of the success, the success of only women in the Olympics wearing for Team USA and having amazing gold medal performances,” Knight said.
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“We’re just focusing on celebrating the women in our room, the extraordinary effort, and continuing to celebrate three gold medals in program history as well as the double gold for both men and women at the same time. And we really don’t detract from that with a bad joke.”
Hughes’ mother Ellen, a former Team USA player and current player development officer said the players only cared about “bring[ing] so much unity for a group and a country.”
