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EspañolDon’t blame Brady Tkachuk for words he never said.
Tkachuk, captain of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators, a member of Team USA’s Olympic gold-medal winning team and a son of former Coyotes star Keith Tkachuk, never said what a doctored TikTok video released by the White House tried to make it appear he said about our wonderful neighbors to the north, Canada.
The video includes altered footage of Brady Tkachuk from a 2025 news conference at the 4 Nations Face Off and with “Free Bird,” Team USA’s goal song playing in the background, Tkachuk is made to say of the Canadians, “They booed our national anthem, so I had to come out and teach those maple syrup eating (expletives) a lesson."
But he never said that. It was AI-generated. Though the folks who posted it on the White House’s official TikTok account disclosed within the clip that it was AI-generated media, the video has more than 11 million views, and it’s been spread widely across other social media platforms.
“It's clearly fake because it's not my voice, not my lips moving," Tkachuk said Thursday, Feb. 26, during his first media availability in Ottawa since the U.S. defeated Canada for the gold in Milan. "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."
Welcome to the unwonderful world of AI, where none of us can be sure what we’re watching and hearing is real. Brady Tkachuk wasn’t the first victim of this growing nonsense, and he certainly won’t be the last, but it should be another warning sign for every athlete, celebrity or Average Joe to stand up and refute whatever false narratives get attached to your name, image and likeness.
It’s not going away any time soon, sadly, so prepare yourselves for any harmful backlash that comes your way.
If it does happen to you, take a cue from Brady Tkachuk and denounce it.
"It's not my voice. It's not what I was saying," he 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 never had that thought."
Tkachuk also addressed what he didn't say during Team USA's locker room celebration, where some posts on social media accused him of being the person who yelled, “Close the northern border!" during Team USA's congratulatory phone call with President Trump.
Yeah, it wasn’t him, he said.
"I've been seeing stuff that people think it's me but if you watch the video, it's not my voice (... it's) something that I never say," 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."
Welcome to the unwonderful world of AI, Brady.
Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azbobbymac and listen to him live every Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. on Roc and Manuch with Jimmy B on ESPN 620 (KTAR-AM) and every Thursday on the Doug Franz Unplugged podcast via Apple or Spotify.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: USA star Brady Tkachuk victimized by White House AI video