America’s Olympians who speak out about politics at home face online backlash — including from Trump
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US President Donald Trump on Sunday said it is difficult to please American Olympians who speak out against the administration’s policies, calling such a critic a “real loser” who might have stayed at home.
It was the latest and most prominent example of US Olympians at the Milan Cortina Games inviting online backlash with their words.
Reporters on Friday asked American athletes at a press conference how they felt about representing the country during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement measures.
Freestyle skater Hunter Hess responded that he has mixed feelings as he disagrees with the situation, and that he is in Milan competing on behalf of everyone who helped get him to The Games.
“If it’s in line with my ethics, I feel like I’m representing it,” Hess said. “Just because I wear the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that happens in the US”
Among those who flocked to Hess was YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
“To all real Americans If you don’t want to represent this country go live somewhere else,” he wrote on X, where he has 4.4 million followers. Minutes later, she was photographed sitting next to US Vice President JD Vance at a US women’s hockey game in the Olympic host city of Milan.
Trump said the next day that Hess’ comments made it difficult to find him.
“Hess, a real Loser, says he is not representing his Country in the current Winter Olympics. If so, he should not have tried for the Team, and it is too bad that he is there,” he wrote on his Truth Social account.
He is not the only one who has expressed dissatisfaction
In Friday’s news conference with the athletes, freestyle skater Chris Lillis spoke about Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying he was “saddened” by what happened in the US.
“I think as a country, we have to focus on respecting the rights of everyone and making sure that we treat our citizens and everyone else, with love and respect,” Lillis said. “I hope that when people watch the athletes compete in the Olympics, they see that this is America that we are trying to represent.
And US publisher Amber Glenn said the LGBTQ+ community has had a tough time during the Trump administration.
In addition to Paul, strong figures criticizing athletes on social media include former NFL quarterback Brett Favre, actor Rob Schneider and US attorney Byron Donalds – Trump endorsed Florida’s gubernatorial race in November. And there was a flood of vitriol directed at them from ordinary Americans.
Glenn wrote on Instagram that he received “horrendous hate/threats to use my voice WHEN ASKED about how I feel.” He added that he will start limiting his use of social media in order to stay healthy.
In response to questions from the Associated Press, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee said in a statement on Sunday that it is aware of the increasing number of abusive and dangerous messages directed at athletes and is doing everything possible to remove content and report credible threats to law enforcement.
“The USOPC stands firmly behind Team USA athletes and remains committed to their well-being and safety, both on and off the field of play,” it said.
Anti-ICE protests in Italy
US support abroad has waned as the Trump administration has pursued an aggressive stance on foreign policy, including tax sanctions, military action in Venezuela and threats to invade Greenland.
In the opening ceremony, Team USA athletes cheered, but boos and whistles could be heard as Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, were shown on stadium screens, waving American flags in the stands.
In Milan, several protests broke out against the local deployment of ICE agents – even after it was clarified that they came from an investigative unit that is completely different from the main law enforcement unit in the crackdown on immigration in the US.
The demonstration on Saturday involved thousands of protesters. Towards the end of it, some of them were confronted by the police who fired tear gas and water cannons. That followed another last week, when hundreds protested the deployment of ICE agents.
