• Freestyle skier Hunter Hess said representing the U.S. at the Olympics “brings up mixed emotions,” explaining that there is “a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of and I think a lot of people aren't.” Hess added, “I think for me, it’s more I’m representing my, like, friends and family back home, the people that represented it before me, all the things that I believe are good about the U.S. I just think if it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I’m representing it.” [NBC News, 2/8/26]
• Hess’ teammate Chris Lillis, also a freestyle skier, said he felt “heartbroken about what's happening in the United States.” Lillis stated, “I think that as a country, we need to focus on respecting everybody's rights and making sure that we're treating our citizens, as well as anybody, with love and respect.” [ABC News, 2/9/26]
• Openly LGBTQ figure skater Amber Glenn spoke out against the Trump administration’s attacks on the LGBTQ community. During a press conference, Glenn said, “It's been a hard time for the (LGBTQ) community overall in this administration,” adding, “It isn't the first time that we've had to come together as a community and try and fight for our human rights, and now especially, it's not just affecting the queer community, but many other communities.” Glenn later said she received “a scary amount of hate/threats” on social media after her comments. After winning gold in the figure skating team event, Glenn posted photos alongside her teammate Alysa Liu with the caption “They hate to see two woke bitches winning.” [CBS News, 2/8/26; NPR, 2/9/26; TikTok, 2/11/25; OutSports, 9/8/26; NBC Sports, 1/30/26]
• Curler Rich Ruohonen spoke out against ICE operations in Minnesota and praised people in Minnesota for standing up for their neighbors. The lawyer and Minnesota native said, “We have a constitution, and it allows us freedom of speech. It protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures and makes it that we have to have probable cause to be pulled over. And what's happening in Minnesota is wrong. There's no shades of grey. It's clear.” Ruohonen then praised his fellow Minnesotans for “showing the love, the compassion, the integrity and respect for others that they don't know.” [The Independent, 2/10/26] 
• Olympic snowboarders Chloe Kim and Maddie Mastro and cross-country skier Jessie Diggins have spoken up in support of Hess and/or against the Trump administration. The snowboarders defended Hess’ comments against criticism from President Donald Trump and voiced displeasure with the administration. Kim said of Trump’s comments, “I think in moments like these, it is really important for us to unite and kind of stand up for one another for all that’s going on.” Mastro told reporters, “I’m also saddened with what’s happening at home. It’s really tough and I feel like we can’t turn a blind eye to that.” Diggins, a Minnesota native, stated, “I do not stand for hate or violence or discrimination.” Diggins added, “For everyone out there caring for others, protecting their neighbors and meeting people with love - every single step is for you.” [The Associated Press, 2/9/26; Instagram, 1/31/26; NPR, 7/3/26]

• Donald Trump attacked Hess on social media, calling him “a real loser.” On Truth Social, Trump posted, “U.S. Olympic Skier, Hunter Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn’t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics. If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it. Very hard to root for someone like this.” [CNN, 2/9/26; Truth Social, 2/8/26]
• White House chief of protocol Monica Crowley reposted Trump’s comments, saying, “Represent America with pride or GTFO.” [CNN, 2/8/26]
• Vice President JD Vance claimed Olympians are “not there to pop off about politics.” He added, “When Olympic athletes enter the political arena, they should expect some pushback.” [USA Today, 2/11/26]

Right-wing media attacked Hunter Hess for speaking out against the Trump administration

• Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo said Hess’ comments were “borderline treason.” Host Laura Ingraham added, “Don't come then. If you're so, if the United States is so — don't wear and don't compete for the United States. I'm tired of this. This is ridiculous.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 2/9/26]
• Fox News contributor Tyrus said Hess should “go the [bleep] home.” Tyrus exclaimed, “Go home. Go the —” Fox bleeped out his word — “home. If it's so terrible, there is a thousand guys behind you that would be happy to represent this country.” [Fox News, Gutfeld, 2/9/26]
• Daily Wire host Matt Walsh compared Hess and Lillis to “snakes” and “rodents,” adding, “ I hope they worked their whole life to get to this moment and then fail.” Walsh said, “I hope these people lose. I hope any Olympic athlete complaining about America on the world stage loses and is humiliated. I hope they worked their whole life to get to this moment and then fail. That’s what I hope. Both of those guys — I don’t know who they are — I hope they fail. I hope they lose. I hope they fail. That’s what they deserve. You don’t deserve to be there. Like, how dare you? Disloyalty is beneath contempt. This is snake behavior. This is rodent behavior. No loyalty, no gratitude.” [The Daily Wire, The Matt Walsh Show, 2/9/26] 
• Podcaster Benny Johnson called for Hunter Hess “go home” and said that “we should pull his funding.” Johnson ranted, “You can go home. Like, we should pull his funding. You don’t need people like this representing the country. Like, who’s in charge of this? I’m going to start a campaign to rip the funding away from these athletes.” Johnson added, “Cut off his funding, pull him, and fly his ass back home. Or leave him there. I don’t care. Nobody wants this.” [YouTube, The Benny Johnson Show, 2/7/26]
• Daily Wire host Michael Knowles called Hess “the absolute worst of America” and called for him to be pulled off the team. Knowles said, “This guy is the absolute worst of America. It's pathetic. If he is so ashamed and embarrassed to be representing the United States, he should be pulled off the team, and I'm not even being hyperbolic here. He actually has no place on the Olympic team.” Knowles added, “This guy hates his country. He's clearly ashamed to be wearing the flag. So, he should come home and give it to one of the other many excellent athletes proud to represent America.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 2/9/26]
• PBD Podcast’s Adam Sosnick said people should boycott Hess from coming back to the United States and that “we have every right to boo you when we see you.” Sosnick said, “Hunter Hess, whose nobody's heard before in their life, you show up on the biggest stage of the Olympics, and all you should be doing is: I love America. I'm proud to be representing my country. That's it, homeboy. So I would boycott this kid from coming back to America.” He added, “You can say whatever you want. You could come back to the country, but we have every right to boo you when we see you. We have every right to not buy any product that you endorse, Hunter Hess. And by the way, what he said wasn't even that bad. The point is this: Shut your mouth. You have a microphone. You're representing the United States of America, not the House of Hess. Shut it up.” [YouTube, PBD Podcast, 2/9/26]
• Right-wing podcaster Vince Coglianese attacked Hess, saying he “has literally no idea what he’s talking about.” Coglianese said, “You think that guy has time to actually consume news at any level that will really inform him? No. He doesn't. He's fully consumed by his sport. And yet, it doesn't stop him from shooting off at the mouth about something that he definitely doesn't understand.” Coglianese added, “How about you just shut your mouth? How about you just excel at your sport and appreciate the great country who made it possible for you to succeed at this level?” [Rumble, Vince, 2/9/26]

Right-wing media lashed out at Amber Glenn for criticizing Trump and advocating for LGBTQ rights

• Matt Walsh attacked Glenn and said “she was happy” to “stab her country in the back.” Walsh stated, “Here’s Amber Glenn, who’s a figure skater and apparently a member of the queer community, quote-unquote. Whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean in her case. And here’s what she had to say when given the chance to stab her country in the back on the world stage, she was happy to take advantage of it.” After playing a clip of Glenn’s comments, Walsh said, “Why is it a hard time for the quote-unquote so-called queer community under Trump? What has Trump done to you? Like, in what way has he made your life more difficult? Because you are queer, quote-unquote.” Walsh added, “Nothing is happening. You’re perfectly fine. You’re not being targeted in any way whatsoever.” [The Daily Wire, The Matt Walsh Show, 2/9/26]
• Benny Johnson said Glenn should “just shut up” after she spoke out against the Trump administration. Johnson said, “You’re literally representing the United States of America. That means you’re representing all people in America, including 77 million Trump voters who won the election for President Trump in a landslide. So maybe you could just shut up?” [YouTube, The Benny Johnson Show, 2/7/26]
• Vince Coglianese went after Glenn for “bitching and moaning about things she doesn't even understand.” Coglianese specifically attacked Glenn for advocating for the LGBTQ community, saying, “This is just mindless babble. President Trump is doing more to stand up for anybody who identifies as any of these random letters in the alphabet soup. He's doing more to stand up for them than any American president before him, including anybody who is under this delusion that they're somehow born in the wrong body. The president is fighting for healthy outcomes for those people. You're fighting for destruction for them. Whose side are you on exactly? You should be rooting for President Trump. The community he supports is the American community. Get familiar with it, and then open your mouth if you want in the future.” [Rumble, Vince, 2/9/26]
• Right-wing podcaster Brett Cooper attacked Glenn, accusing her of “trying to emotionally manipulate and lie to people.” Cooper said, “What human rights are you fighting for? I have never heard one of these people actually be able to articulate what human right they're talking about. Trump isn't coming after those rights. Are you talking about the right to murder your child? The right to mutilate your breasts at 12 years old and undergo gender reassignment surgery? Because no, those are not human rights. So stop trying to emotionally manipulate and lie to people, because that's exactly what you're doing.” [YouTube, The Brett Cooper Show, 2/9/26]
• PBD Podcast’s Vincent Oshana attacked Glenn, calling her “a perfect example of ignorance fueled by propaganda by the simple-minded left.” Oshana added, “What is she talking about? What is Trump doing wrong with the LGBTQ community?” [YouTube, PBD Podcast, 2/9/26]
• Right-wing podcaster Megyn Kelly responded to a video of Glenn’s comments, calling Glenn “another turncoat to root against.” [The Intercept, 2/17/26]
• Fox host Laura Ingraham attacked Glenn’s social media posts, saying, “We don't want to hear about your political commentary.” Ingraham said, “That figure skater Amber Glenn posted on TikTok: They hate to see two woke B-words winning. No we don't. We don't care if you're woke. We’re watching the games. We don't want to hear about your political commentary.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 2/11/26]

Right-wing media attacked Rich Ruohonen for speaking out against ICE raids in Minnesota

• Matt Walsh attacked Ruohonen for criticizing ICE actions in Minnesota, saying, “You don't go to a foreign country on the global stage and start attacking your own country.” Walsh said, “What has been happening, Rich? What are you talking about? I mean, what specifically is bad? What specifically defies the Constitution, in your legal opinion? Can you explain? Like arresting and deporting people who are not legally authorized to be in the country? Is that the bad thing that's happening?” Walsh added, “You don't go to a foreign country on the global stage and start attacking your own country. You don't do that. And you especially don't do that if your sport, your ‘sport,’ is curling.” [The Daily Wire, The Matt Walsh Show, 2/11/26]
• Podcaster Dan Bongino, the former deputy director of the FBI, said Ruohonen should “just curl, bro” instead of advocating for ICE leaving Minnesota. Bongino stated, “Can you just play the sport, man? Justin said one of those guys is a curler. Not like barbell curls. Like, you know, curling. … Fantastic. Whatever. Just go curl, bro.” [Rumble, The Dan Bongino Show, 2/13/26]
• OutKick’s Ian Miller attacked Ruohonen for his comments about ICE in Minnesota, writing that the lawyer “has no idea what he’s talking about.” Ian Miller wrote, “Most of the political questions and answers had seemed to die down as the games got underway. Until a US Olympic curler, of all sports, decided to add his ridiculous, ill-informed, anti-ICE opinion to the mix.” Miller added, “If these athletes are so conflicted or upset about representing the United States because they have bad opinions, what's to stop them from staying home? Why didn't Ruohonen just withdraw from the games entirely? Why not stay back in Minnesota and donate your time as a lawyer to representing an illegal alien with a lengthy criminal record in his efforts to avoid deportation.” [OutKick, 2/10/26]

Others in right-wing media broadly criticized Olympic athletes who spoke out against the administration

• Right-wing commentator Evita Duffy-Alfonso said American Olympians should be vetted for their patriotism and that “the patriotic thing to do is actually to root against these unpatriotic Olympians.” Duffy-Alfonso stated, “I don’t know why we don’t start vetting these Olympians, before they actually start to represent us overseas, for their patriotism.” She added, “The patriotic thing to do is actually to root against these unpatriotic Olympians. Because, they’re going out bashing us, why should we, why should we cheer for them? Why should we want them to win?” [Newsmax, Carl Higbe Frontline, 2/18/26]
• Podcaster Katie Miller, the wife of Stephen Miller, posted on social media, “If you can’t say you love America while competing on behalf of our nation then you shouldn’t be at the Olympics.” [CNN, 2/9/26]
• Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen criticized Olympic athletes talking about politics. In response to a video of Glenn’s comments, Thiessen stated, “Listening to athletes opine on politics is going to ruin the Olympics.” He also reportedly said he was “rooting against Hunter Hess.” [Yahoo! Sports, 2/7/26]
• Fox host Sean Hannity criticized “all these athletes that are woke and they're proud of it,” saying he’s “not interested” in their “political commentary.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 2/11/26]
• Hannity criticized athletes for supposedly “attacking our country while they're supposed to be representing our country.” Hannity added, “I really don’t want to hear your wokeness. I don’t want to hear that you don’t love the country you’re supposed to be representing.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 2/13/26]