Brady Tkachuk responded on Thursday, February 26th, to a TikTok video posted on the official White House account while being interviewed in Ottawa. The video included an AI voiceover of Brady Tkachuk in an interview he had with his brother, Matthew, after the 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament last year.
The video, which was posted after Team USA defeated Team Canada in the Olympic Gold medal game, showed Tkachuk saying, “They booed our national anthem, so I had to come out and teach those maple syrup-eating f***s a lesson.” Below the video, it says “AI-Generated”, clearly stating that the video was altered with AI and that Tkachuk didn’t actually say these things. Tkachuk plays for the Ottawa Senators in the NHL, who play in the capital of Canada.
In the interview on Thursday, Tkachuk said “Well, it’s clearly fake, because it’s not my voice, not my lips moving,” and “I’m not in control of any of those accounts. I know that those words would never come out of my mouth. So, I can’t do anything about it.”
Tkachuk was a huge asset for Team USA in their venture to win their first Men’s Hockey Gold medal in 46 years at the 2026 Olympics, including an incredible breakaway goal against Slovakia. However, this AI video created extraneous controversy for the athlete, especially because it wasn’t the only thing he was receiving backlash for.
After winning the gold medal, the Men’s team received a phone call from President Donald Trump. In the call, a player from the team is heard yelling “Close the northern border!” Many speculated that the player who said this was Brady Tkachuk, but in this interview he refuted that claim as well by saying “I’ve been seeing stuff that people think it’s me. But if you watch the video, it’s not my voice or something that I never say.” He says, “It’s crazy when things go on social media, how fast they go. I would never say anything like that.”
Featured Image Credit: The US Sun