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Team USA players interrogated by woke Canadian media over Trump call — 'Why would you laugh?'

1 week 3 days ago


A Canadian sports reporter blamed the internet for backlash she received over her questions to American hockey players.

Members of Team USA men's Olympic hockey team have been lectured by media members for days now after laughing at a joke made by President Trump over the phone.

'If we were to do it again, I think we wouldn't do that, and we made a mistake.'

Trump called the team in the locker room after their gold medal win on Sunday and made a joke that has offended woke reporters, seemingly worldwide.

"We're going to have to bring the women's team," the president joked about the Team USA women, who also won gold. He added that he "probably would be impeached" if he didn't.

For daring to laugh, U.S. players have been subjected to struggle sessions in their individual markets from hockey reporters. Seemingly the worst of such examples has come out of Canada's capital, where Americans Jake Sanderson and Brady Tkachuk play for the Ottawa Senators.

Both players were given a browbeating from TSN reporter Claire Hanna, a Canadian who lists her pronouns as "she/her" on her X page.

Sanderson told reporters that while he thought things had been "blown out of proportion a little bit," he still thought it was a "mistake" to laugh at the president's joke.

"We have nothing but the utmost respect for the women. We had a lounge in the village that we were hanging out with them all the time, watching other events," Sanderson said.

That answer was not good enough, though, and Hanna sought further clarification.

"Do you understand in the moment how much it could hurt a team to hear them kind of just be put down that way?" the female reporter asked.

"If we were to do it again, I think we wouldn't do that, and we made a mistake. But again, I think it kind of got blown out of proportion a little bit," Sanderson answered.

RELATED: Boston Bruins players cave over Trump phone call: 'Certainly sorry' — 'we should have reacted differently'

The scrum of reporters was incessant with questions about the Trump call and the players' subsequent visit to the White House and State of the Union address.

Tkachuk was not spared from these queries, explaining that only 15 minutes after leaving the ice with the gold medal, "You have the president of the United States calling you. You just can't really believe [it]."

"You're still riding the high of being a world champ, and for the president to take time and call ...," Tkachuk trailed off before sharing a memory from the Olympics.

Still, no amount of positive reinforcement about the women's team could save Tkachuk, as Hanna soon asked, "Do you understand how they could feel pretty put down by that moment?

"I get it," Tkachuk replied. "I have no really other comments other than, you know, for the things that we can control, and that was, you know, we supported them, they supported us. Can't control what other people say. That's just kind of life itself."

With Tkachuk praising the women's team and saying they were clearly the best squad in the tournament, most would think that Tkachuk had touched on the narrative enough, but Hanna again pressed forward.

RELATED: Team USA captain goes full feminist over Trump's 'distasteful' invitation: 'It's a great teaching point'

'"So then why would you laugh when they got invited?" the reporter asked.

"I don't really have an answer, honestly," an exhausted Tkachuk stated. "It was just a whirlwind of a moment that you can't really control what somebody says, and I guess caught off guard a little bit. "

The American reiterated, "When you're talking to the president 10 minutes after you just achieve your dream, it's just the fact that you're talking to him. It's just, you can't really believe where your life's at, that you're talking to the president of the United States after you just won a gold medal."

Hanna, seemingly shrugging off a bevy of backlash, wrote on X, "I see the internet is angry today."

This only garnered more disgruntled fan remarks.

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Andrew Chapados

CNN's biggest nightmare is one step closer to finally coming true

1 week 3 days ago


CNN may be forced to move toward the middle as a result of a likely incoming brand merger.

Netflix has reportedly bowed out of a bidding war in which the company was the final barrier to a takeover of the massive entity that is CNN's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.

'We have to start by looking honestly at ourselves.'

Paramount Skydance looks poised to take over the Warner company, and that could mean big shake-ups at CNN. Paramount's gigantic banner controls CBS television networks, including CBS News. News junkies will recall that when Paramount acquired the Free Press, staffers were short-circuiting over reporter Bari Weiss being named editor in chief of CBS News.

If Paramount controls CNN, Weiss or someone similar could be tapped to oversee it.

Weiss' pro-Israel, anti-child genital mutilation, and billionaire-backed media landscape has upset some of the farthest-left reaches of the news world, though she shares many liberal views. For example, she is pro-gay-marriage, but against men in women's sports.

Many of Weiss' disagreements with the neo-left were outlined when she vacated her role at the New York Times. In her resignation letter, she described the paper as becoming a "performance space" where stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy "the narrowest of audiences."

RELATED: Shellenberger: '60 Minutes' segment paused by Weiss led by reporter with history of 'biased and inaccurate reporting'

Weiss alleged she was called a "Nazi" at the paper despite being Jewish and recalled sample pieces from the Times like one that praised the Soviet Union's space program for its "diversity."

Weiss' outlook on left-wing news would likely ruffle feathers at CNN if she were to take the lead. Brian Stelter, a former CNN anchor and the current chief media analyst for CNN Worldwide, shared remarks to that effect about the likely takeover in a Friday newsletter for the network.

Stelter wrote that CNN employees and viewers have "serious concerns" about whether the network would maintain its "editorial independence" if Paramount takes the reins.

However, Weiss' approach at CBS News is seemingly noncontroversial.

"We have to start by looking honestly at ourselves. We are not producing a product that enough people want," she said in January, per Deadline.

She also addressed ideological bias at the company, telling employees their job is to "present people with the fullest picture — and the strongest voices on all sides of an issue — and then trust them to make up their own minds."

Still this outlook has resulted in further resignations.

Despite getting dirty looks from some liberals, Weiss is not exactly the apple of the right-wing eye, either.

RELATED: Furious liberals blame Bari Weiss takeover at CBS after Democrat leader fumbles tough question on 'Face the Nation'

Photo by Michele Crowe/CBS News/Getty Images

Weiss claims to be a "centrist," supported the national anthem protests that occurred in the NFL, and also wants to keep abortion legal. Additionally, she admitted to voting for Republican Mitt Romney as well as Democrats Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.

The 41-year-old has received significant mockery from comedians over the $150 million purchase of her Substack page, while conservatives like Megyn Kelly have accused Weiss of trying to "create more enemies" by labeling others "anti-Semites."

At the end of the day, Paramount Skydance's alleged "superior proposal" to buy Warner Bros. is all but completed, but still not finalized. If and when it is, viewers will find out which direction CNN is truly headed in.

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Andrew Chapados