A photo of Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid, clad as Donald Trump, the U.S.’s controversial commander-in-chief, garnered hundreds of likes and dozens of comments almost immediately after being posted to Instagram Monday afternoon.
One day before Halloween, McDavid’s reported girlfriend, Lauren Kyle, posted the photo of her and McDavid to Instagram.
“Making America great again us,” Kyle captioned, referencing Trump’s polarizing campaign slogan. The caption was later changed to “Mr and Mrs Trumpus.”
Kyle’s photo immediately generated a flurry of responses on Instagram and other social media platforms, weighing in on McDavid dressing up as the reality TV star-turned politician.
Many of the responses were negative, questioning McDavid’s choice to dress as the politician who has in the past generated controversies, including for making the assertion that Mexicans are “rapists” and “criminals” and being caught on tape admitting he didn’t care if women consent to his sexual advances and could do what he wanted anyway. Trump later apologized for remarks he made in the video.
READ MORE: Donald Trump apologizes for saying he ‘can do anything’ to women in leaked 2005 video
Watch below: In October 2016, the Washington Post obtained video of then-U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking with Billy Bush of “Access Hollywood” on the set of “Days of Our Lives” in 2005, where Trump – seemingly unaware he is speaking into a hot mic – makes several lewd and obscene comments about women.
“Wow another rich, white hockey player and his gf trying to make a joke out of a racist homophobe. why am i not surprised,” an Instagram user name k.aylabarett posted.
Other posters defended McDavid’s choice to wear any costume he likes for Halloween.
“So let me get this straight,” Instagram user deutschejess posted. “People are actually offended at this costume? Really? There are kids dressing up as the devil and this is what hill some of you choose to die on? It’s… Halloween. It’s suppose to be satirical. Get over your faux outrage, you’ll live longer.”
“Other people wear trump costumes and no one bats an eye. Connor McDavid does and everyone loses their sh**,” Instagram user jbirb13 said.
On Tuesday, McDavid was asked about the costume during a media scrum and didn’t seem bothered by the criticism. He suggested people were reading too much into his choice of attire.
“It’s a Halloween costume,” he said. “That’s all it was. It was not meant to be anything, to mean anything – it was a Halloween costume and that’s all I’ll say about it.”
One hour after it was posted, Kyle’s photo had received 1,679 likes and sparked 134 comments. In that time, it had also generated hundreds of comments on Twitter. Here’s some of what people had to say on that social media platform: