The backlash comes amid larger political tensions between Canada and the US, after President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian goods and repeatedly referred to Canada as the “51st state”.
Anti-US sentiments and Canadian patriotism have risen in response, leading to boycotts of American liquor on store shelves and fewer Canadians travelling south.
The advert also features McRae promoting the upcoming Super Bowl showdown between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, which will be hosted on 8 February at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
NBC, the US broadcaster for the Olympic Games, ran the video to promote their opening ceremony broadcast, and their subsequent Olympics and Super Bowl coverage. It also features McRae’s song Nobody’s Girl.
The reaction was swift on social media.
“Tate McRae doing a promo for NBC and Team USA for the Olympics and not Canada has me a bit sad but okay,” said Jordan Cicchelli, a Toronto-based sports writer on X.
Canadian culture journalist Courtney Shea wrote in Toronto Life that “watching the ad, you’d have absolutely no idea that McRae was born and raised in the Great White North”.
“The only question worth asking at this point is: Does Tate McRae remember she’s from Canada?” Shea wrote.
Not all posts were overly critical. Blaine Badiuk from Alberta wrote that McRae being used to promote the US Olympic team is just proof of Canada’s cultural “domination”.
“They needed a CANADIAN to sell themselves”, Badiuk wrote.
The 22-year-old pop star attended Western Canada High School in Calgary, and first came into the spotlight as a contestant on the American TV show So You Think You Can Dance before pivoting to music.
Her stardom has skyrocketed in recent years, with her 2024 album So Close to What debuting at number one on the Billboard 200.
McRae has frequently referenced her Canadian roots in public, including her love for ice hockey. She has been spotted numerous times cheering her home team the Calgary Flames with her family.
But the pop star also told a crowd at one of her shows last year that “Canada doesn’t feel like home anymore, which is weird”.
“Calgary, where I’m from, feels a little less like homey than LA,” McRae said.
McRae is not the only non-American celebrity to promote Team USA.
In another advert for NBC, external published in November, UK pop star Dua Lipa is seen promoting American skiers Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, as well as American snowboarder Chloe Kim and American figure skater Alysa Liu.
