Team China skier Eileen Gu criticized for Trump comments

American-born, Olympic skater from the Chinese team Eileen Jo He came under massive scrutiny on social media this week after making comments about President Donald Trump’s recent criticism of U.S. Olympian Hunter Hess.

Gu, who was born in San Francisco, is the highest paid Winter Olympic Athlete in the world, making an estimated $23 million in 2025 alone in partnerships with Chinese companies, including the Bank of China, and Western companies. Gu said she represents China to her mother, who was born there.

Gu has never spoken out against China’s alleged human rights abuses, including the country’s alleged systematic campaign of repression against Uyghurs and other Muslim-majority ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

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Gold medalist Elaine Gu of China celebrates during the medal ceremony for women’s freestyle skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics on February 8, 2022 in Beijing. (AP Photo/Natasha Pisarenko)

However, Joe commented on Trump’s criticism of Hice for expressing “mixed feelings” about representing the United States in Milan-Cortina.

“I’m sorry that the headline that dominates the Olympics has to be something that has nothing to do with the spirit of the games. It really goes against everything the Olympics should be,” Joe told reporters on Monday.

“The whole point of sports is to bring people together… one of the very few shared languages, the language of the human body, the language of the human spirit, the competitive spirit, the ability to break not just records, but especially in our sport, literally the human limit. How cool is that?”

Gu also claimed that she was “caught in the crossfire” herself.

“As someone who has been caught in the crossfire before, I feel sorry for the athletes,” Gu said. “I hope they can skate their best.”

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Elaine Gu celebrates winning gold after competing in the women’s freestyle snowboarding final during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at Genting Snow Park. (Daniel Parhizkaran/USA Today Sports)

Gu’s comments sparked backlash on social media, with many critics pointing out that Gu has never spoken out against China for its alleged human rights violations.

Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom She criticized Gu in a lengthy X post, calling her a “traitor.”

“Ellen Jo is a traitor. Born in America, raised in America, lives in America, she chose to run against her own country over the worst human rights violator on the planet, China. She built her reputation in a free country, then chose to represent an authoritarian regime while leveraging endorsements linked to surveillance groups with mass internment and forced labor camps. And when human rights appear, they disappear,” Kanter wrote.

“This is not neutrality. This is a choice. She chose to play for a country that is responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of its own people and currently runs concentration camps, rather than the country in which she was born and had the opportunity.”

Michael Sobolik, a fellow at the Hudson Institute, also noted Gu’s silence on China’s alleged persecution of the Uyghurs and political imprisonment of individuals who oppose Xi Jinping.

“Listen, it’s fine for athletes to criticize the US president. It’s also not interesting because it happens all the time. What’s interesting about this story…is that Elaine Gu is an American figure skater competing for China. No mention is made of whether the Chinese Communist Party’s genocide of the Uyghurs ‘goes against everything the Olympics should be about.'” “No criticism of Xi Jinping for imprisoning Jimmy Lai, Reverend Ezra Jin, Gulshan Abbas, or many other political prisoners in China,” he wrote. Sobolik on X.

“If you criticize America but don’t say a word about the Chinese Communist Party, that says a lot about you. And if you’re an American athlete who takes advantage of the freedom this country has given you to represent an authoritarian regime, that says even more.”

Republican communications specialist Matt Whitlock echoed similar criticisms of Go in an X post.

“I can’t imagine a worse voice on this topic than an athlete who gave up her US citizenship in exchange for endorsement deals with the Chinese Communist Party. Does Elaine Guo have any criticism of Xi Jinping over genocide, slavery and detention of dissidents?” Whitlock wrote.

Many other X users spoke out against Gu.

Trump was one of the most discussed figures at this year’s Winter Olympics, and several athletes have made suggestive criticism of his handling of the United States, including Hice.

Trump posted a scathing tweet on social media, calling Hice a “real loser.”

“US Olympic skater Hunter Hess, the real loser, says he will not represent his country at the current Winter Olympics,” he wrote.

“If that’s the case, he shouldn’t try out for the team, and it’s too bad he got involved. It’s very hard to encourage someone like that. Make America Great Again!”

Hess originally said of representing the United States, “I think representing the United States is bringing up mixed emotions right now. It’s a little difficult. Obviously there’s a lot going on and I’m not the biggest fan of it, and I think a lot of people aren’t either.”

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China’s Elaine Gu reacts at the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. Monday, February 9, 2026. (David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images)

“I think, for me, I represent my friends and family back home, and the people who represented it before me, and all the things that I think are good about the United States. If it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I represent them. Just because I wear the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that happens in the United States.”

“I just want to do it for my friends and family and the people who support me to get here.”

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