What you need to know
Tate McRae is trying to settle an online controversy.
The 22-year-old pop artist entered the conversation over her appearance in an NBC ad for the 2026 Winter Olympics that also featured Team USA athletes, but commentators questioned why she was rooting for the United States rather than her home country of Canada.
McRae reassured her Canadian fans on Wednesday, February 4, when she shared a childhood photo of herself holding a small Canadian flag on her Instagram Stories. In the caption, she wrote, “…Y’all know I’m down for Canada.”
In McRae’s ad for NBC’s Olympic coverage, the pop star enters the frame wearing a red snowsuit with skis and pauses to ask a CGI snowy owl for directions. “Oh, hey, I’m a little lost,” McCrae began, and the owl said, “Who?”
“Tate McCray,” she announced, receiving another “who” from the owl. “I’m nobody. I mean, nobody’s girl,” she says with a wink, referring to her hit single “Nobody’s Girl” playing in the background.
“I’m looking forward to going to Milan for a great opening ceremony and meeting Team USA,” she says. “Then, look forward to a weekend of America’s best skating for gold and Lindsey Vonn’s epic comeback. Then, come back to America for the big game: Super Bowl LX.”
Tate McRae/Instagram
After the owl answered again, “Who?” she replied, “Okay, I’ll ask someone else then. Forget it.”
The ad ends with a snowy owl and a long-eared owl conversing in Italian and the question, “What did Tate-McRae want?” The other person said, “I don’t know, I don’t speak English.”
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The ad received mixed reactions, mostly due to McRae’s Canadian roots. She doesn’t mention any Canadian athletes in the commercial.
“The worst feeling every Canadian has felt. 2026… what were you and your team thinking?” one Instagram user commented.
“Girls, we are Canadian. We don’t root for American teams in winter sports, especially during times like these!!!,” another user wrote.
Some praised the ad, with one commenter writing: “This is what it’s all about.”
The professional dancer turned pop star grew up in Calgary, Canada’s third largest city. Coincidentally, her birthday, July 1st, is also Canada Day, which celebrates the day the British North America Act came into force and the modern nation of Canada was created.
To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic candidates, visit people.com for ongoing coverage before, during and after the Games. Watch the Milan-Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Games starting February 6th on NBC and Peacock.
