‘Women aren’t lower than’: US Olympic hockey staff responds to Trump’s ‘distasteful’ joke about White House invitation | EUROtoday

Members of the U.S. ladies’s hockey staff have expressed disappointment at President Donald Trump’s “distasteful” joke about being pressured to ask them to Washington, D.C., whereas emphasizing that the uproar shouldn’t distract from their victory.

The controversy started on Sunday, when Trump known as the boys’s hockey staff after they received the Olympic gold medal — their first since 1980 — and invited them to the State of the Union and the White House. He mentioned he’d lengthen the identical supply to the ladies’s staff, which additionally received gold in opposition to Canada.

“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that,” Trump mentioned with a chuckle. Otherwise, he joked he would face impeachment.

His remarks provoked laughter from the staff, who have been ingesting beer in a locker room with FBI Director Kash Patel, video of the second reveals.

On Tuesday, many of the males’s staff — decked out in Team USA sweaters — traveled to the White House to satisfy with Trump, and several other attended the president’s tackle to Congress that night. The ladies’s staff initially declined the president’s SOTU supply, citing present commitments. Trump, although, mentioned throughout his tackle that the staff will go to the White House “soon.” The staff is but to publicly verify.

At least three of the staff’s members have since spoken publicly concerning the incident.

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Hilary Knight, the ladies’s staff captain and participant for the Seattle Torrent, instructed ESPN on Wednesday that she discovered Trump’s joke “distasteful,” although she conceded that the boys’s staff was “in a tough spot.”

“I think this is just a really good learning point to really focus on, you know, how we talk about women,” Knight mentioned. “Not only in sport, but in industry. Women aren’t less than, and our achievements shouldn’t be overshadowed by anything else other than how great they are.”

She added that the 2 groups have developed a powerful camaraderie through the Milan Olympic video games and that she does not need a “quick lapse” to district from their twin victories.

Women’s staff participant Hayley Scamurra, a ahead for the Montréal Victoire, mentioned on a podcast on Tuesday that the decision “was what it was.” But, she mentioned it was drowned out by the “outpouring of love and support” they’ve acquired.

Team USA participant Kelly Pannek, a two-time gold medalist, telegraphed an identical sentiment Wednesday. She instructed reporters that the boys’s staff had supported the ladies in Italy, however that Trump’s joke didn’t come as a shock.

“With the phone call specifically, it’s not surprising, to be frank,” Pannek said. “So I don’t know why we expect differently, but I think for us, it’s also just about getting back to the focus on our team and what our team accomplished.”

“The video is what it is, you’d have to ask them their feelings on it,” she added.

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At least one member of the boys’s staff has expressed remorse for a way the decision with the president went down.

“We should’ve reacted differently,” Team USA participant and Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman instructed reporters Wednesday.

“We know that we are so excited for the women’s team,” he added. “We have so much respect for the women’s team, and to share that gold medal with them is something that we’re forever grateful for.”

In lieu of attending the White House, the ladies’s staff could as a substitute revel of their Olympic victory hundreds of miles away. On Tuesday, rapper Flavor Flav prolonged an invitation to the staff for a “real celebration” in Las Vegas.