Gay figure skater Adam Rippon has repeatedly used his time in the spotlight at the Winter Olympics to insult Vice President Mike Pence. Now he is concerned that people are paying more attention to his thoughts on Pence than his skating.
It all began earlier this month when he falsely accused Pence of advocating for gay conversion therapy. USA Today reported:
Openly gay figure skater Adam Rippon declined chance to speak with Vice President PenceVice President Pence is set to arrive here soon to lead the official U.S. delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympic opening ceremony, a delegation that is making a strong political statement against North Korea’s oppressive regime by including the father of Otto Warmbier, the student who died not long after being held in captivity in North Korea.But on the afternoon on Jan. 17, Pence had another focus: He was so concerned about the criticism he received from U.S. Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon that his staff went to the extraordinary length of asking the U.S. Olympic Committee to set up a conversation between the two – an offer Rippon turned down.According to two people with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly about it, a member of Pence’s staff requested the conversation with the openly gay Rippon after reading the skater’s derogatory remarks about him in a USA TODAY Sports story that had been published online just an hour earlier.Rippon, the two people said, declined the invitation…“You mean Mike Pence, the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy? I’m not buying it,” Rippon said.
Then he posed on Instagram with another gay Olympian named Gus Kenworthy. Their caption ended with the line: “Eat your heart out, Pence.”
Now that he’s won a Bronze medal, he wishes people would stop associating him with Mike Pence.
Rebecca Savransky reports at The Hill:
Rippon: ‘I don’t want my Olympic experience being about Mike Pence’U.S. figure skater Adam Rippon said he doesn’t want his experience at the Winter Olympics to be dominated by Vice President Pence.During a press conference Tuesday, Rippon — the first openly gay athlete selected to a U.S. Winter Olympic team — said he doesn’t want the attention on his comments on Pence to distract from his teammates.”I don’t want my Olympic experience being about Mike Pence,” he said, according to CNN.
Too late, pal.
Twitter users didn’t have much sympathy. Via Twitchy:
On a related note, does anyone on the left remember that Obama entered office opposed to gay marriage?
Featured image via YouTube.
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