Tate McRae has faced lots of scrutiny and assumptions about her career and personal life. Maybe the 23-year-old is savvy enough to know she can’t control the narrative entirely, and she might feel that playing rumor whack-a-mole would be an insufficient use of her time. But in the absence of a clear statement, online audiences have been running wild with the claim that McRae might be MAGA.
Earlier this week, McRae appeared on the cover of Variety‘s Power of Young Hollywood issue. When asked why she avoids commenting on any conversations regarding politics — specifically as it pertains to Donald Trump and his MAGA cult — McRae circled the question carefully, which only made her response catch fire online. “I think it’s pretty obvious what kind of person I am and the things I support,” she said. “And I hope that my fans can see that through the things that I’m putting my energy towards.”
McRae might be hoping fans will notice her support for organizations like the Trevor Project, which aims to end suicide among young LGBTQ+ communities, and the gender equality foundation Global Fund for Women. But some people on the internet have a hard time dismissing her collaboration with Morgan Wallen and her rumored relationship with NHL star Jack Hughes.
Last year, McRae turned into a lightning rod for political projections when she joined Wallen on his single “What I Want.” At 33, Wallen has largely rebounded from the the 2021 moment when he was captured on video spitting out a racial slur while drunk. He remains a chart-topping, stadium-filling act. The music that was pulled from radio and digital playlists has long since been reinstated. McRae earned her first and only Number One song when “What I Want” topped the Billboard Hot 100.
Months after the song’s release, McRae told Rolling Stone she just wanted to make a country song and “didn’t realize how much a song would be connected to all the other factors, and it really shocked me.” She also clarified that she’d never met Wallen in person.
Then she seemed to double down on her decision to work with him in the first place. “I don’t think you should regret anything in life, because it gives you so much clarity,” she said. “I think controversy and criticism is a way of learning and figuring out what you want to move forward with, and how that shapes you as a person. I think it’s all important.”
Another wave of criticism hit McRae when she first became linked to Hughes late last year. Hughes, a center for the New Jersey Devils, became a trending name at the top of the year after leading the U.S men’s national ice hockey team to its first gold medal win in 46 years. The celebration took a turn when the team accepted an invitation to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, which was declined by the U.S. women’s Olympic hockey team, though a representative attributed their absence to prior commitments. Hughes was pictured at the White House smiling alongside his teammates in a photo with Trump.
“Everything is so political. We’re athletes. We’re so proud to represent the U.S.,” Hughes said about the team’s excitement for the visit. “When you get the chance to go to White House and meet the president, we’re proud to be Americans, and that’s so patriotic. No matter what your views are, we’re super excited to go to the White House tomorrow and be a part of that.”
When asked about her rumored relationship with Hughes, McRae told Variety, “I try to keep my relationships as sacred and private as possible. I love the people in my life. They love me. You just try to keep that circle as positive and supportive as possible. And the outside noise, I can’t do anything about that. Focusing my energy on something that I can’t control, it just puts me in a bad mood.”
She told Variety she would prefer to “say my piece through organizations I support and the environment that I have on tour,” as she told Variety, but many fans are still alarmed she hasn’t said more. Online, people are still demanding a more direct statement.
“I think there’s just so much that gets misconstrued online,” she told Rolling Stone. “You have to have humor with it, otherwise you would go insane.”
