The Olympics are usually a time for feel-good stories and stirring, patriotic moments, but members of Team USA are making headlines for all the wrong reasons just days into the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Skier Breezy Johnson captured the first gold of the games for Team USA when she won the women’s downhill event on Sunday and demonstrated pure class on the medal stand, singing along to the National Anthem with tears in her eyes and her hand over her heart as the American flag was raised.
The same cannot be said for her fellow athletes.
Amber Glenn
As reported on Monday’s AM Update, figure skater Amber Glenn (above), who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, didn’t hold back when asked about the Trump administration’s approach to the LGBTQ+ community during a pre-Olympic press conference:
GLENN: It’s been a hard time for the [LGBTQ] community overall in this administration. 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, and I think that we are able to support each other in a way that we didn’t have to before, and because of that, it’s made us a lot stronger.
Notably, the three-time U.S. figure skating champion, who won a gold medal as part of the team event on Sunday, did not address the many countries competing in Winter Olympics where same-sex relationships are criminalized, nor did she indicate the rights gay people have lost under the Trump administration, which features several openly gay people in key positions.
During an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored Monday, Megyn questioned what exactly Glenn thinks she is complaining about. “What gay rights have you not enjoyed as the as an American citizen? Nothing. It’s a lie… There is complete parity and equal rights for all gay people in America. There’s an issue over trans people because that’s a whole different kettle of fish,” she explained. “She is trying to glom on because she loves victimhood.”
Hunter Hess
Not to be outdone, former Team USA freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, who is now competing for Great Britain, posted a vulgar anti-ICE image on Instagram last week that appeared to show the phrase “f-ck ICE” written in urine.
But the strongest backlash has been reserved for U.S. freestyle skier Hunter Hess, after he told the media at a Friday press conference that he has “mixed emotions” about representing the U.S. on the world stage:
HESS: It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now, I think. It’s a little hard. There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren’t. I think, for me, it’s more I’m representing my friends and family back home, the people that represented it before me, all the things that I believe are good about the U.S. If it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I’m representing it. Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S. I just kind of want to do it for my friends and my family and the people that support me getting here.
President Trump weighed in on Truth Social, calling Hess “a real loser” and saying it is “very hard to root for someone like” him. The president wrote that “it’s too bad” Hess made the USA Olympic team and said the skier “shouldn’t have tried out” if he didn’t want to represent his country.
Hess has since tried to backtrack on the controversial comments, posting a picture of himself on Instagram Monday with the caption, “I love my country” alongside an American flag emoji.
“There is so much that is great about America, but there are always things that could be better,” he wrote. ” One of the many things that makes this country so amazing is that we have the right and the freedom to point that out. The best part of the Olympics is that it brings people together, and when so many of us are divided we need that more than ever. I cannot wait to represent Team USA next week when I compete.”
History Lesson
Megyn told Morgan that these athletes could benefit from a history lesson right about now. “He has forgotten the most important lesson of the great Herb Brooks, who coached the ‘Miracle on Ice’ team that won against the Russians in 1980 in an event so historic they’ve made several movies out of it and documentaries beyond which,” she said. “The name on the front of your jersey is hell of a lot more important than the one on the back.”
Over the weekend, Megyn reposted a clip of the 2004 film Miracle, in which Kurt Russell portrayed the legendary Brooks imparting that very wisdom on his ragtag team. Watch:
“You go [to the Olympics] because you’re representing the United States of America,” Megyn concluded. “No one gives a damn about you, Mr. Hess. You’ll be forgotten in about two minutes whether you win gold or not. That’s the truth. But your bad behavior about your country and the flag that you have been sent to represent will be remembered for a long time.”