The mother of USA Olympic men’s hockey stars Jack and Quinn Hughes has reacted to Donald Trump’s controversial joke about inviting the women’s team to the State of the Union.
After the men’s stunning 2-1 overtime win over rivals Canada in the gold medal game at the Winter Olympics on Sunday, Trump called USA players to congratulate them as they celebrated the victory in the locker room.
In a video of the joyous moment the president could be heard inviting them to both his State of the Union speech and the White House this week, before adding that ‘we are going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that.’
He then added that, if he didn’t invite them: ‘I do believe I would probably be impeached!’
Trump’s joke has sparked contention after going viral online, with several commentators accusing him of misogyny. The USA women’s hockey team have since turned down his offer to join their male counterparts at the State of the Union on Tuesday night due to ‘previously scheduled commitments.’
When asked for her response to the comment, Ellen Hughes – a player development consultant for the women’s team as well as the mom to men’s duo Jack and Quinn – said on the TODAY show that ‘at the end of the day, it’s just about the country.’
The mother of Olympic men’s hockey stars Jack and Quinn Hughes has reacted to Donald Trump’s controversial joke about the women’s team
Trump joked he would be ‘impeached’ if he didn’t invite the women to the State of the Union
‘These players, both the men and women, can bring so much unity to a group and to a country,’ Hughes added, via NBC News. ‘People that cheered on that don’t watch hockey, people that have politics on one side or on the other side, and that’s all both the men’s team and the women’s team care about.’
Both the men and women’s hockey teams clinched gold medals for USA at the Milan-Cortina Games, with the latter also getting the better of an overtime battle with Canada last week.
Hughes’ son Jack, meanwhile, scored the game-winning goal as the men claimed their first gold medal since 1980.
‘It couldn’t have gone better,’ she continued. ‘Both teams going undefeated. We couldn’t have written a better story, and I hope everybody just understands what we did in the moment, both the men and the women to bring this country together and let everybody cheer in the same direction.’
Jack and Quinn also appeared on TODAY via video call to lift the lid on the relationship between the two teams.
‘I’m glad you brought up the women because it was amazing to spend some time with them, too,’ Quinn said. ‘And then obviously watch them, me and Jack were there, we watched them win the gold medal.’
‘They came to our game and were able to watch us,’ he added. ‘So just the support back and forth, just to get to know them a little better was special, too.’
The women’s team also claimed gold medals last week after an overtime victory over Canada
Jack and Quinn’s mom Ellen (pictured) stressed that both sets of teams bring ‘ so much unity’ to America
Her sons were on cloud nine after Jack (left) scored the overtime game-winner against Canada
While the women’s team declined it, USA men’s hockey stars have accepted Trump’s offer to join him at the State of the Union and the White House this week.
The men’s team have drawn criticism for accepting the invitation, including from ex-ESPN personality Keith Olbermann.
In a furious tirade on social media Monday, Olbermann wrote: ‘Anybody smart (or respectful of women athletes) on the U.S. Men’s Olympic hockey team or connected to it, will refuse Trump’s invitation to The State of the Union.
‘Any who show up are declaring their indelible stupidity and misogyny. The End.’
