Olympic gold medalist Hilary Knight has commented on what she calls a “distasteful joke” from President Donald Trump that shifted focus away from Team USA women’s hockey’s historic achievements at the Milan Games. The all-time leading U.S. Olympic scorer made her feelings clear while addressing the controversy that happened after Trump’s locker room visit with the men’s team went viral.
Hilary Knight calls out Donald Trump’s comment
Hilary Knight didn’t hold back when discussing Trump’s remark about inviting the women’s team to avoid impeachment. “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,” the hockey legend said during an appearance on SportsCenter.
The controversy started when Trump visited the American men’s team locker room in Milan to celebrate their gold medal victory. During the celebration, Trump extended an invitation to the players to attend the State of the Union address, then added with a laugh: “I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that. I do believe I probably would be impeached.”
Knight, who scored the tying goal in the women’s gold medal game before Megan Keller’s overtime winner secured the 2-1 victory over Canada, emphasized that the women’s accomplishments deserve better.
“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,” she said. “And really not detract from that with a distasteful joke.”
While the men’s team attended the address, the U.S. women’s team officially declined the invitation, citing scheduling conflicts. Knight later expanded on her perspective, saying this moment offers an important lesson. “Women aren’t less than, and their achievements shouldn’t be overshadowed by anything else other than how great they are.”
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.
