Megyn Kelly's Harsh Personal Attack At Megan Rapinoe After Hockey Team Comments

Megyn Kellyis not holding back when it comes to Megan Rapinoe. The conservative commentator unleashed a fiery critique of the U.S. soccer legend after Rapinoe publicly criticized the gold medal-winning U.S. men’s hockey team for celebrating with President Donald Trump following their Olympic victory. The clash quickly escalated into a war of words, with Kelly accusing Rapinoe of jealousy and bitterness while defending the athletes’ right to enjoy their moment. The controversy comes after both the men’s and women’s U.S. hockey teams secured gold medals at the Winter Olympics in Italy, turning what should have been a celebratory moment into a political flashpoint.

Rapinoe sparked backlash after discussing the team’s celebration on her podcast, "A Touch More," which she co-hosts with Sue Bird. She criticized the men for interacting with Trump after their dramatic overtime win against Canada, arguing they allowed politics to overshadow their achievement.

“In what I like to call a classic ‘ripping defeat from the jaws of victory’, the United States men's hockey team, in their utter moment of glory, childhood dreams come true, sensational, ruined it for themselves,” Rapinoe said. “They allowed themselves to be co-opted by a clown. And now you're a clown. You look like a clown.

“They get on the phone with Trump and Trump makes the comment about the women's team. We're not gonna play it, it's all over the internet and we're not gonna platform that trash," Megan Rapinoe continued. "You just accomplished this amazing thing. You just gave this whole moment over to this person who you know is only going to use it for him.”

Her comments quickly went viral, drawing both support and intense criticism across social media and political circles.

Kelly responded forcefully on her SiriusXM show, accusing Megan Rapinoe of hypocrisy and claiming she had no issue when a different president celebrated female athletes. “The nerve of this woman to call these guys clowns. She is jealous. She is full of hatred for anyone who is a white male,” Kelly said. “She is like a rabid, angry lesbian.”

Kelly also suggested Rapinoe’s reaction stemmed from frustration over not being in the spotlight herself, adding that the men’s team was widely admired while Rapinoe was more divisive. “She is just jealous that they are in the spotlight and she is not. In fact, she is loathed by more than half of the country, unlike these guys who are beloved and she can't see straight," she continued. “She wants to take it away from them and she feels powerless to do it, because she is. Enjoy your bitter, bitter life.”

Kelly’s comments quickly ignited reactions online, with many users criticizing the media personality and defending Rapinoe. Some questioned why the topic was being amplified at all given larger global concerns. One user wrote, “friend, why are you talking about this when the world is on fire?”

Others accused Kelly of targeting female athletes unfairly. “Anyone else notice Megyn obsesses over female athletes? I'm thinking ‘projection,'” another post read.

Also on her podcast, Rapinoe expressed concern over who had access to the team environment, specifically calling out the presence of FBI Director Kash Patel in the locker room during celebrations. Reflecting on her own leadership experience with Team USA, she suggested she would have approached the situation very differently.

"Kash Patel is in the locker room, he’s partying, he’s chugging beers. I’m not like decorum over everything, that’s not what I need out of my FBI director, like what are we doing? That’s just, whatever besides the point," Rapinoe said before emphasizing that certain boundaries should exist between athletes and political figures. "I would have never… those people would never be allowed in our locker rooms."

Sue Bird echoed the concern, pointing to what she viewed as a disconnect between the men’s and women’s teams despite their longstanding relationship.

"This person, who happens to be the president of the United States, makes a joke that is and feels dismissive, and I don’t get the part where the men’s hockey team is actually close with the women’s hockey team," Bird said. "If my friends were being dismissed in this way, why would I laugh ever? Period. Take the rest of it out. That’s what I don’t get."

The moment that sparked the backlash traces back to Trump’s congratulatory call to the men's hockey team, during which he joked, “I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team, you do know that?” drawing laughter from the players before he added that if he didn’t, “I do believe I probably would be impeach."

While the men went on to attend the President's State of the Union address, the women's team did not due to "previously scheduled academic and professional commitments."