Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy says he and other members of the Team USA men’s hockey team “definitely regret” laughing at President Donald Trump’s sexist joke about their female counterparts.
McAvoy was one of several players seen grinning in one video of Trump’s congratulatory call with the US men’s team, which competed on Sunday won gold at the Winter Olympics for the first time in 46 years.
During the call, the president joked that he had 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 was heavily criticized online after going viral on social media. Amid the controversy, the U.S. women’s national team formally declined Trump’s invitation, citing “the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments.”
Speak to CBS News and other media Thursday, McAvoy said he regrets his behavior.
“[I’m] I’m just really sorry about how we reacted to it at the time,” he said. “You know things just happened really quickly there. And if you know the men’s team and if you know the relationships that we have, the amount of time we’ve spent with the women’s team and how we’ve supported them, that certainly doesn’t reflect how we feel and look at them and their performance.
McAvoy then praised the women’s team for their “incredible” performance at the Winter Olympics.
“We supported them the same way they supported us,” he said. “We share this together, I know that, and I’m pretty sure they know how I feel about them.”
Echoing those feelings was Jake Sanderson from the Ottawa senators, who described his team’s actions as “a mistake” but also noted that “things were blown out of proportion.”
“We have nothing but the utmost respect for the women,” he said, recalling what it felt like to see them win. “If we were to do it again, I don’t think we would, and we made a mistake.”
Whether McAvoy and Sanderson’s comments 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 goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck would receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom — but he did not offer the women’s goalkeeper Aerin Frankel the same honor.
