Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk expressed his displeasure Thursday with an AI-generated video posted by the White House on its official TikTok account.
The clip, released Sunday following Team USA’s men’s hockey gold medal win over Canada at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, altered footage from a news conference by the Tkachuk brothers at last February’s 4 Nations Face-Off.
Set to Team USA’s goal song “Free Bird,” the doctored video made it appear as though Tkachuk said, “They booed our national anthem, so I had to come out and teach those maple syrup eating f—s a lesson.”
The profanity was bleeped, and the post included a disclaimer noting it contained AI-generated media. The video amassed 11.1 million views on TikTok and spread widely across social platforms.
Tkachuk, an American who captains the NHL team in Canada’s capital, made clear in his first media availability since returning to Ottawa that the content was fabricated.
“Well, it’s clearly fake, because it’s not my voice, not my lips moving,” Tkachuk said, via ESPN. “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.
“It’s not my voice. It’s not what I was saying. 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 never had that thought.”
The controversy highlights tensions in the U.S.-Canada hockey rivalry, amplified by the recent Olympic triumph.
Tkachuk emphasized he would never use such language or disparage Canadians in that way, underscoring his frustration with the misrepresentation amid his dual roles as a U.S. gold medalist and Senators leader.
