Members of the US Olympic women’s and men’s hockey teams appeared alongside actor Connor Storrie on “Saturday Night Live” to call a truce after President Trump snubbed the women in a “distasteful and unfortunate” remark.
Hilary Knight, the women’s team’s captain, was joined by her teammate Megan Keller and the US men’s hockey players Jack and Quinn Hughes for the “Heated Rivarly” star’s opening monologue.
While onstage, wearing their gold medals and jerseys, Knight, 36, quipped, “It was going to be just us, but we thought we’d invite the guys, too.”
“Yeah, we thought we’d give them a little moment to shine,” Keller, 29, added.
“That is very important,” Storrie, 26, chimed in. “You know, my show [‘Heated Rivalry’] speaks to people who are not always represented in hockey, so this is really great to have actual hockey legends here tonight. Both of your teams just won the gold.”
Jack, 24, shared that the men’s team last won gold at the 1980 Lake Placid Games, while Knight cheekily added that the women’s team won gold in 2018.
Knight’s remark was a reference to the controversy that sparked when Trump, 79, called the USA men’s team to congratulate them on their win against Canada at the Milan Cortina Game on Feb. 22.
While on the call, the politician invited the team to attend his State of the Union speech, stating that he would also be inviting the women’s team, or else he would be impeached.
Several of the men laughed at Trump’s remarks, which many believed to be sexist.
Knight later slammed Trump’s comments as “distasteful and unfortunate” during an appearance on “SportsCenter” Wednesday.
“I thought it was sort of a distasteful joke and unfortunately, that is overshadowing a lot of the success, the success of just women at the Olympics carrying for Team USA and having amazing gold medal feats,” she said.
“We’re just focusing on celebrating the women in our room, the extraordinary efforts, and continue to celebrate three gold medals in program history as well as the double gold for both men’s and women’s at the same time. And really not detract from that with a distasteful joke.”
At the time, Jack and Quinn addressed the contention, sharing their support for the women’s team during an interview with “Good Morning America.”
“We’re extremely happy for them,” Quinn, 26, said.
Additionally, the USA goalie Jeremy Swayman stated he believed the team “should’ve reacted differently” to Trump’s comment.
“We know that we are so excited for the women’s team,” he stated. “We have so much respect for the women’s team. To share that gold medal with them is something we’re forever grateful for.”
