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Players from the gold medal-winning men’s and women’s hockey teams appeared together on “Saturday Night Live” amid recent political controversy.
The men’s and women’s athletes have been publicly competing after President Donald Trump called the men’s team following their gold medal win against Canada to invite them to the State of The Union, and joked that he would have to invite the women too or face impeachment. The joke caused a backlash from the men’s team after the players responded with laughter, especially the American and Canadian libertarians.
Actresses Hilary Knight and Megan Keller were joined by actors Jack and Quinn Hughes on SNL, and they made light of the latest controversy.
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Knight appeared to be referring to Trump’s joke.
“It was going to be just us, but we thought we’d invite the boys too,” Knight said.
Knight delivered another punchline after Quinn Hughes said men last won gold 46 years ago at the 1980 Lake Placid Games.
Knight followed up with the women’s team last winning gold in the last two Olympics, at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games.
Jack Hughes replied, “Good burn. These gold medals are not just for us, they are for all hockey fans.”
“Heated Rivalry” actor Connor Storrie hosted the episode.
Many mainstream media outlets wrote op-eds criticizing the group of men for laughing at the joke and visiting the White House to celebrate and attend Trump’s State of the Union address.
In an interview on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” on Friday, Hughes opened up about his respect for women’s group after McAfee appeared to refer to the controversy by joking that Hughes and his colleagues “hate” female players.
“We spent a lot of time with them, the women’s team. We supported them. As we were at their games, they were at our games,” said Hughes.
Hughes then appeared to address recent criticism of his team over its response to Trump’s joke.
“Like all these people talking about, how many of them watched their gold medal game? Quinn Hughes and I were in the game. We were in the game until, like, overtime ran out on the glass, and we were jumping up and down so happy for these girls, so happy for them to win,” Hughes said.
“And how many of these people watched the gold medal game, watched their semifinal game? Like 10 out of 10 of our players went to their game in the round-robin. Like, we had a lot of support for them, and we’re proud of them. We’re so happy that they won, and brought back the gold medal and, you know, I said, an unmatched medal for both the women’s team and the gold. USA hockey.”
Jack Hughes, who scored the game-winning overtime goal against Canada to win gold, showed his connection to the US women’s team player who did the same to Keller.
“He and I had a great moment in the restaurant after his gold medal game. We played Slovakia the next night, and it was like a late game. And we were in the pasta line – me and Megan. And they were getting ready to go out again, and I just gave him a big hug, and I said, ‘I’m so happy for you. I’m so proud of you,'” Hughes said.
“A few days later, I saw him again in the house [cafeteria]and we took a nice picture and, uh, he just hugged me and gave me a big hug too.”
American women’s hockey captain Hilary Knight said on Wednesday’s ESPN “SportsCenter” Trump’s “bad joke”. has an “overshadow[ed]”women’s success.
“I thought it was a bad joke, and, unfortunately, that overshadowed the great success, the success of women in the Olympics for Team USA and having amazing gold medals,” Knight said.
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“We’re just focused on celebrating the women in our room, amazing efforts, and we’re continuing to celebrate the three gold medals in the history of the program and the men’s and women’s double gold at the same time. And let’s not confuse that with a disgusting joke.”
Hughes’ mother, Ellen, a former Team USA player and current member of player development, said players care about “bringing[ing] great unity in the team and the country.”
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