Donald Trump has a way of tossing off a joke or an odd remark, and then watching it ricochet across the internet as a viral meme. This time, the rebound came with skates on after a woman got emotional while standing next to Trump.
For weeks, critics waited for someone to clap back at the president after his comments about the U.S. women’s team. Many brushed it off as a wisecrack, but others saw it as another eye-rolling moment from Trump’s circle — especially after he was handed yet another ceremonial honor critics online mocked as a “pity prize.”
During the Women’s History Month ceremony last week, Canadian-born bobsledder Kaillie Humphries called herself a “legal immigrant” and grew emotional while discussing her IVF journey to motherhood and praising Trump’s policies affecting women in sports.
While there she presented Trump with the Order of Ikkos, a medal Team USA athletes give to someone who helped them reach the podium. Humphries, now competing for the U.S., who won two bronze medals at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, told the crowd, “I believe this actually makes you the first president in history to ever be awarded an Order of Ikkos as well,” before handing him the medal.
“Wow,” Trump appeared to say with his mouth as he swayed back and forth in jest about his new gift. He continued looking on in shock with a proud smile as he tapped Humphries on the shoulder and then made a distracting move in front of everyone in the room, who clapped and a comment that changed the energy in the room.
“I knew I liked her,” Trump said after ruffling with his suit jacket and pointing at her. He then unbuttoned his blazer, placed two fingers on his chest, and buttoned it again.
BREAKING 🚨 US Olympic Bobsledder Kaillie gives Trump her Olympic Order Ikkos medal for ‘standing up for women in women’s sports’
— MAGA Voice (@MAGAVoice) March 12, 2026
President Trump has done MORE for women than any other President
AMEN 🙏
pic.twitter.com/Y8mzkity3V
After a few more remarks, Humphries gives the medal to Trump with a side hug before pushing his head to touch hers and then releasing her to take her place at the podium.
“I knew I liked her,” the president said at the mic. “Now I know why. That’s really nice. Beautiful. I appreciate that.”
Once a short clip from Humphries appearance, fans online were not enthused by her tears but they were “speechless” over Trump for getting another pity award he did not earn.
“It’s the one and only way he’ll ever receive an award, by taking a legitimately earned award from someone else,” said one person. Others said, “Oh my god. Stop it” and “Meanwhile, Melania knows Donald will never stop talking about this.”
Observers noticed how happy and giddy Trump looked when receiving the medal as one said, “Love this! He almost looked like he was gonna cry. What a beautiful thing to do!”
Another joked, “The orange toddler loves shiny things” and “Bwahahahaa lol.” As a warning to Humphries, one person said, “She’ll learn that dancing with the devil will cost her more than gold.”
During last weekend’s episode of “Saturday Night Live,” featuring guest star Connor Storrie, U.S. women’s ice hockey star Hilary Knight stood shoulder to shoulder with teammate Megan Keller and brothers Jack and Quinn Hughes from the men’s team. Storrie first brought on the Hughes brothers, who claimed not to know about his HBO show, “Heated Rivalry.” The actor then said in the skit, “Ohh, I hope some hockey players watched it.”
“Don’t worry, we saw your show,” Keller said as she and Knight joined on the stage.
Connor Storrie’s monologue! pic.twitter.com/j3b9QkrcWB
— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) March 1, 2026
“Ohh wow, Hillary and Megan, it so cool that we’re all here,” Storrie says, as if surprised.
All four athletes wore their Olympic gold medals. In a clear reference to Trump’s earlier quip about possibly being impeached if he didn’t invite the women’s team to the White House, Knight smiled and said, “It was going to be just us, but we thought we’d invite the guys too.”
Keller followed with, “We thought we’d give them a little moment to shine.”
The social media audience roared, instantly understanding the context, as many observed, “Women got the bigger applause.”
“Thank goodness, the ladies and a fake hockey player got to poke fun at the men hockey players. All is right with the world now and there is balance! The media can now rest easy,” one user posted on Facebook. One final comment summed up the mood in the room: “Those men look stunned that they didn’t get the same appreciation.”
The humor worked because it echoed a real moment.
After the men clinched gold in Italy, Trump joined a celebratory call and joked, “I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team. You do know that. … I do believe I’d probably would be impeached [if the women’s team wasn’t invited].”
Knight later described the remark as “sort of distasteful,” adding that it overshadowed “the success of just women at the Olympics carrying for Team USA and having amazing gold medal feats.”
Both teams won gold at the 2026 Winter Games, but the women’s victory carried extra weight — their third Olympic title after 1998 and 2018. On “SNL,” that history became joke material when Quinn Hughes noted the men’s win was their first since 1980. Hilary Knight shot back, “The last time we did that was two whole Olympics ago,” prompting Jack Hughes to laugh, “Nice burn.”
The medal moments told a different story. During the men’s White House visit — the women have yet to go — Matthew Tkachuk let Donald Trump try on his gold medal.
“Yeah, absolutely. I’m not giving it back,” the president joked. Tkachuk countered, “I’ll trade you that for a pen.” Trump admired the medal and added, “That’s cool. I never thought I’d have this on me.”
On SNL, however, the script flipped. When host Connor Storrie asked to hold one, the athletes replied in unison: “No,” drawing laughs, just like folks online who laughed Trump’s latest pity award.
