Former ESPN host Keith Olbermann called his former “SportsCenter” colleague Linda Cohn a “self-obsessed politically motivated clown” following her remarks about Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews visiting the White House after Team USA’s gold medal win over Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Taking to X on Thursday, Cohn disagreed with a Toronto Star opinion piece that said Matthews chose President Donald Trump over his allegiance to Canada by celebrating the U.S. men’s hockey team’s dramatic 2-1 overtime win with Trump in Washington, D.C.
“Are you kidding me? If this is how Leafs fans feel, If I’m Auston Matthews, I’d take control of my life and go where I’m wanted,” Cohn wrote of the piece entitled: “Auston Matthews made his choice, seemingly putting Trump ahead of the Leafs.”
She quote-tweeted the Toronto Star post, adding, “Be better. I hope you don’t speak for Leafs fans.”
That’s when Olbermann chimed in.
“Hate to finally break it to you [Linda Cohn]. I’d say ‘be better to you’ but it’s an impossibility,” Olbermann wrote, including a screenshot of Cohn’s post.
“You’re a self-obsessed politically motivated clown who thinks HER leanings are sacrosanct and everyone else’s must be suppressed. We’ve indulged you all these years. That now ends.”
Olbermann and Cohn were two of the faces of the network in the 1990s and went on to co-host a 2018 “SportsCenter” reunion special. That year, Cohn signed a new ESPN deal, which increased her hockey profile with the network, while Olbermann departed the Worldwide Leader in 2020 to pivot into political media.
Matthews, captain of the American men’s squad, visited the White House with most of his teammates Tuesday, but did not attend Trump’s State of the Union address.
The men’s team has faced backlash in the wake of their gold-medal victory Sunday for how they responded to a joke made by Trump during their celebratory phone call, when the president said he would have to invite the U.S. women’s hockey team following their gold medal win in Milan or else, “I believe I probably would be impeached.” Members of the team could be heard laughing in footage of the call on social media.
The Toronto Star piece says Matthews “failed in every respect as captain of the Leafs. Miserably” — due in part because of Team USA’s phone call with Trump in the locker room.
The Toronto Star also condemned Matthews for partying in Miami with Team USA after their gold-medal game.
“At that point, Matthews could have said, ‘Sorry boys, but I’ve got to get back to work,’” the Toronto Star writes. “After playing six games in 11 days in Italy and then traveling back from Europe, being rested and ready to resume NHL activity Wednesday night might have set the example a captain would want to set. The Leafs, after all, are in serious danger of missing the Stanley Cup playoffs.”
