Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk set the record straight Thursday on an AI-generated video posted on the White House TikTok account that appeared to show him dissing the Canadian hockey team.
Tkachuk, who helped lead the U.S. to its first men’s hockey gold medal since 1980 with a 2-1 win over Canada on Sunday in the Milan Cortina Olympics, discussed the video published the day of the final that showed him during a 4 Nations Face-Off press conference last year saying, “They booed our national anthem, so I had to come out and teach those maple syrup eating f—s a lesson.”
“Well, it’s clearly fake, because it’s not my voice, not my lips moving,” Tkachuk told reporters in Ottawa ahead of the Senators’ first game back from the Olympic break against the Detroit Red Wings. “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.”
The video, which amassed over 11 million views on TikTok, discloses that it uses AI generation. The song “Free Bird” underscored Tkachuk’s fake quote before the video transitioned to highlights of the American victory.
“It’s not my voice. It’s not what I was saying,” Tkachuk said. “I would never say that. That’s not who I am, so I guess I don’t like that video because that would never come out of my mouth and (I) never had that thought.”
Tkachuk also said he wasn’t the person who shouted, “Close the northern border,” during the American players’ congratulatory phone call with President Donald Trump.
“I’ve been seeing stuff that people think it’s me. But if you watch the video, it’s not my voice,” Tkachuk said. “I don’t know how that took a storm on its own when I give everything I have here. It’s crazy when things go on social media, how fast they go. I would never say anything like that.”
Upon its return to the U.S., the men’s hockey team visited the White House on Tuesday for Trump’s State of the Union speech. Trump created controversy during the postgame call when he told the U.S. men he would likely be impeached if he didn’t also invite the gold medal-winning U.S. women’s team.
Tkachuk, 26, was a first-time Olympian and produced three goals with two assists in six games. He’s tallied 37 points (14 goals, 23 assists) in 37 games for the Senators this season.
