Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy says he and other members of Team USA men’s hockey team are “certainly sorry” for laughing at President Donald Trump’s sexist joke about their female counterparts.
McAvoy was among the many players who could be spotted chuckling in a video of Trump’s congratulatory call with the U.S. men’s team, which on Sunday won gold at the Winter Olympics for the first time in 46 years.
During the call, the president joked that he was “going to have to bring the women’s team,” which also won gold, to his State of the Union address along with the men’s team or risk being “impeached.”
Footage of the call drew heavy criticism online after going viral on social media. Amid the controversy, the U.S. women’s team formally declined Trump’s invitation, citing “timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments.”
Speaking to CBS News and other outlets Thursday, McAvoy said he regrets his behavior.
“[I’m] just certainly sorry for how we responded to it in that moment,” he said. “You know things that just happened really quick there. And if you know the men’s team and if you know the relationships that we have, the amount of time that we’ve spent with the women’s team and how we’ve supported them, it’s certainly not reflective of how we feel and look at them and their accomplishments.”
McAvoy went on to praise the women’s team for their “unbelievable” achievements at the Winter Olympics.
“We supported them the same way that they supported us,” he said. “We share this together, I know that, and I’m pretty confident they know how I feel about them.”
Echoing those sentiments was Jake Sanderson of the Ottawa Senators, who described his team’s actions as “a mistake” but also noted that “things got blown out of proportion.”
“We have nothing but the utmost respect for the women,” he said, recalling how it felt to watch them win. “If we were to do it again, I think we wouldn’t do that, and we made a mistake.”
Whether McAvoy and Sanderson’s remarks will be enough to restore the goodwill their team initially enjoyed remains to be seen.
During his State of the Union address, Trump announced that Team USA men’s goalie, Connor Hellebuyck, would receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom ― but did not offer the women’s goalie, Aerin Frankel, the same honor.
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