Tate McRae Responds to Backlash After Appearing in Winter Olympics 2026 Ad with Team USA Athletes as a Canadian

Tate McRae is breaking her silence after appearing in a new NBC ad for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

In the new commercial, the 22-year-old “Sports car” singer is skiing up in the snowy mountains where she asks some CGI owls for directions to the Olympics.

“I’m trying to get to Milan for an amazing opening ceremony and meet Team U.S.A.,” Tate says. “Then it’s the weekend with America’s best skating for gold, and Lindsey Vonn‘s epic comeback. Then come back to the States for the big game, Super Bowl LX.”

Many took issue with the ad and questioned why Tate would be supporting the United States and not Canada, which is her native country.

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“Ur Canadian but promoting America for the Olympics??? …. This is so disappointing,” one person wrote in the comments as another added, “Feel free to return your Canadian passport.”

After seeing the comments, Tate took to her Instagram Story on Wednesday (February 4) to respond.

“…y’all know I’m Canada down,” Tate wrote along with a childhood photo of herself holding a mini Canadian flag.

If you didn’t know, Tate grew up in Calgary, Canada and coincidentally, her birthday July 1 also happens to be Canada Day, which celebrates the day the British North America Act went into effect and created the modern country of Canada.

The opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics kicks off at Milano San Siro Olympic Stadium Friday (February 6) starting at 8 p.m. local time in Milan, Italy.

NBC and Peacock be airing live coverage starting at 2 p.m. ET. Primetime coverage of the event will air 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.