Out Olympian Adam Rippon on CNN’s New Day this morning said now that the Winter Olympics are over, he’d be willing to meet with Vice President Mike Pence about LGBTQ issues.
“Now is the right time,” Rippon said. “The Olympics are over. You don’t get to make any sort of change if you don’t try to at least try to reach across and have the opportunity to speak.”
Rippon said he himself doesn’t have anything personal to address with Pence, but he’d like to see LGBTQ folks who have been affected by Pence’s anti-gay policies have a chance to speak with the veep.
“He tweeted at me and he said I want you to know that I’m for you and I’m for all the Olympians, which I think that’s great, but I don’t believe it, because when I go home, are you still for me? Are you still for other LGBTQ Americans? That’s where I feel like the tweet is almost disingenuous.”
Watch below.
Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon says he is now willing to meet with Vice President Mike Pence: “Now is the right time… He tweeted at me and he said I want you to know that I’m for you and I’m for all the Olympians, which I think that’s great, but I don’t believe it.” pic.twitter.com/CcEGLyZMjO
• Paleontologist & athlete Francesc Gascó is serving serious buff and beard (above).
• Anti-LGBT bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein, who owned and operated Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Oregon, are still trying to get out of paying their $135,000 fine for refusing to sell a lesbian couple a wedding cake even though a crowd-funding campaign gave them a $500,000 windfall. #MakingMoneyOnHate
• Some folks didn’t appreciate out Olympian Adam Rippon’s leather harness-styled tux at the Oscars, but he says it made him feel “cool AF.” I thought he rocked it.
I think fashion is all about self expression and I chose to wear what I wore on the red carpet because I felt cool AF. Everyone should take risks, be bold, and not give a 💩. It’s LOTS of fun. Huge thanks to my team for dressing me and make me feel like a sexy MF. pic.twitter.com/gimDFyJPYd
• Menswear ads in the Netherlands featuring male couples kissing are being vandalized. Who knew there were such haters in the Netherlands?
• Gus Kenworthy (looking totally swoon-worthy) penned a clever Instagram post in the style of a “missed connections” ad after he and bf Matt Wilkas chatted up superstar Ricky Martin and his husband Jwan Yosef at the Vanity Fair Oscar party.
Ok, just because I love my Olympic boys Gus Kenworthy and Adam Rippon, I have to share these pics from their social media accounts as both were invited to last night’s Academy Award ceremonies.
Above, Gus snapped a quick pic with boyfriend Matthew Wilkas as they were heading out for the evening. Word is they were on the list for just about every important post-Oscar party there was – Vanity Fair’s soiree, Elton John’s party…
Gus also co-hosted the “Eonline Puppy Pick” where he may or may not have helped steer the Call Me By Your Name pup to the finish line.
And below, Adam, as always, was Adam bringing his own sense of style to the red carpet. That look included a leather harness which Adam pulled off flawlessly.
I think fashion is all about self expression and I chose to wear what I wore on the red carpet because I felt cool AF. Everyone should take risks, be bold, and not give a 💩. It’s LOTS of fun. Huge thanks to my team for dressing me and make me feel like a sexy MF. pic.twitter.com/gimDFyJPYd— Adam Rippon (@Adaripp) March 6, 2018
Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon sat down with Ellen DeGeneres today to talk on a multitude of topics including his not winning the gold medal in his event.
Adam countered the question by saying just by appearing on ELLEN – which he’s wanted to do for at least 27 of his 28 years on the planet – he feels like he’s having a gold medal moment.
Ellen did inquire as to Adam’s current “celebrity crushes,” and Adam’s first response was Jake Gyllenhaal is a “solid choice.”
I think we can all agree there.
He added that he’s recently shifted from Harry Styles to singer Shawn Mendes who he’s been “sleeping on” (but not with).
Ellen’s advice was to possibly look in the “gay men” category and he might find more success there.
Adam’s take? “Love is a funny thing, isn’t it?”
In the second clip, Adam shares why he didn’t take a chance to talk with Vice President Mike Pence about his positions on so-called “conversion therapy.”
Mainly, Adam was busy getting ready for the Olympics. But he added that he feels that conversation is one that should be had by those who have been affected by Pence’s harmful policies.
He also announces his fund raising efforts in conjunction with GLAAD to help empower LGBTQ youth because, “I want people to be accepted exactly as they are.”
This year, I attended the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang as an openly LGBTQ American athlete. I’m proud to have represented my country authentically as exactly who I am. I want others to be able to show up to life exactly as they are. This is why I’ve started a fundraiser for GLAAD – because they are fighting for a world where every LGBTQ young person can be accepted and loved exactly as they are.
I want to give back to GLAAD by raising money to support their LGBTQ youth programing. GLAAD’s research uncovered that 20% of young people ages 18-34 identify as LGBTQ, and because of this they’ve created several programs that empower LGBTQ youth to tell their stories, produce dynamic web content and events, and receive high-level advocacy and media training. GLAAD’s youth programs foster courage, confidence and acceptance.
Will you join me to advance equality and accelerate acceptance for LGBTQ youth? Donate now and help make a difference. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
U.S. Olympians Adam Rippon (L) and Gus Kenworthy (R)
In an interview with The Washington Post, freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy and figure skater Adam Rippon shared their thoughts on being the first two out male Winter Olympians and how it affected not only themselves but other athletes.
Both acknowledged that one byproduct of their openness about being gay was the encounters with closeted athletes and coaches who thanked them for the representation.
Kenworthy said two athletes and a coach approached him while Rippon spoke of a coach did the same.
The duo, who became friends thanks to their shared status as “America’s gay Olympians,” also noted the enormous fear and energy that being closeted took from each of their lives.
Said Rippon, “I think you spend so much time worrying about what other people think about, that you realize that you had all of this extra energy that you didn’t need to be using. And, you know, I think straight people never have this experience of coming out. And it’s such a life-changing moment that you become so strong. I gained so much power and strength from that moment.”
“And I agree with what he said about it being effortless,” Kenworthy added, “because when I was in the closet, it was so [pause] much [pause] effort to stay in the closet and constantly worrying, and fearing I was going to fall asleep before the other guys on my team and say something in my sleep, or anything. I was just, all the time, always nervous that I was going to out myself, that someone was going to find out, and it was this horrible, horrible thing. And now that I’m out, and I realize how great it is, and I’m just getting to enjoy my life, I feel like I just feel free and liberated and I’m competing better, interviews, anything, I just get to be myself, and it’s a strange thing to be thanked for that, but it’s also amazing.”
The two athletes also agreed that they felt the need to be at the top of their respective sports before they could come out in that being “the best” meant haters couldn’t throw shade.
“For myself,” Kenworthy said, “when I came out [in 2015], I felt like I needed to be the best, because that was what I thought it would take to be accepted. No one can talk s— on you if you’re the No. 1 ranked in the world, and so that’s what my whole thing was, and so I made sure that the season before I came out, I was the No. 1-ranked guy in the world, and that was how I wanted to come out. Because I felt like, ‘You can’t argue with that.’ But in the end, no one was trying to argue with it anyway.”
“I actually feel exactly the same,” Rippon said, “where I made sure that when I came out, I was skating very well, so that I would be taken seriously. And after I came out, I won my national title.”
Truly, Rippon and Kenworthy were taken very seriously in their sports.
And regarding the “gay Olympian” label? Rippon summed it all up thusly:
“I think, at the end of the day, that we’re just Olympians. And I think we’re ‘gay Olympians,’ and the next gay Olympians will just be called Olympians, and I think that’s what we really hope, that it won’t be a story.”
2018 Winter Olympians Adam Rippon (L) and Gus Kenworthy (R)
Out Olympic freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy is having a sassy time on the Twitter today as he enjoys the closing ceremonies in PyeongChang.
From sharing the news of Team Russia’s gold medal win in men’s hockey (“Russia’s biggest win since the 2016 Presidential election!”) to questioning Ivanka Trump’s “hard work” to get to the Olympics to teasing his new bestie Adam Rippon (“Please stop calling me. You’re honestly starting to get v clingy and I can’t anymore”).
So proud of all these people! Everybody here has worked so hard to make it to the Olympics and have the opportunity to walk in the closing ceremony! Well… Everyone except Ivanka. Honestly, tf is she doing here?? pic.twitter.com/sfJKi0VTDb
Two weeks ago, at opening ceremonies, we met and a friendship began. Today, at closing ceremonies, it ends. @Adaripp, please stop calling me. You’re honestly starting to get v clingy and I can’t anymore. pic.twitter.com/h9GArWda9b
Out U.S. Olympians (L-R) Adam Rippon, Brittany Bowe and Gus Kenworthy
As the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang come to a close, join me as I celebrate the awesome accomplishments of the openly gay, lesbian and bisexual Olympians at these games.
Of a record 15 out LGBTQ athletes (including out men for the first time at a Winter Olympics), four athletes won a combined seven medals.
The number of out Olympians at these Games is more than double the seven from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. In contrast, there were 56 out Olympians at the much larger Summer Olympics in 2016.
Listen as I recap the fantastic achievements of U.S. Olympians Adam Rippon, Gus Kenworthy and Brittany Bowe as well as Canada’s Eric Radford, the Netherlands’ Ireen Wust, Belgium’s Jorik Hendrickx, Belle Brockhoff and Barbara Jezeršek of Australia, Swiss snowboarder Simona Meiler and more.
As the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang are coming to a close, The Today Show sat down with American Olympians Adam Rippon and Gus Kenworthy to reflect on their journey through these Games as the first ever openly gay U.S. Winter Olympians.
Freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, who came out in 2015 after he won a silver medal in Sochi, admitted that he didn’t know if the support he’d enjoyed would continue as an out athlete.
“I was very much in the closet and very much ashamed of who I was, and I actually didn’t get to appreciate the medal that I won because of that,” he said. “I didn’t know if the gay skier would be an image anyone wanted to get behind or support.”
In reality, Gus has enjoyed more endorsements than just about any other U.S. Olympian.
Figure skater Adam Rippon, who earned a bronze medal at these Games, said it was important to him to show up and be exactly who he is.
“I came here being authentically myself and sharing my story, and being gay is part of that,” Rippon told NBC’s Craig Melvin. “But I came here as an American athlete and I came here to help my team get a medal in that team event, and that was what I focused on.”
Adam found himself at the center of a political firestorm before the Games began with a comment about Vice President Mike Pence’s history of anti-LGBT policies. He also turned down an opportunity to speak with the Vice President.
But Adam handled the issue with aplomb: “I didn’t take the phone call [with Pence] because I needed to focus on the competition.”
Rippon says he would “totally” be open to chatting with the veep after the closing ceremonies in PyeongChang.
“Mike Pence doesn’t stand for anything that I was taught when I grew up, and I think that it’s important if you’re given the platform to speak up for those who don’t have a voice.” @Adaripp tells @craigmelvinpic.twitter.com/w3No1ksMq4
“My entire life in movies and commercials in public… you see straight, heterosexual love, and that’s completely fine because it’s normal but us also showing the same type of affection isn’t shoving it in your face. It’s just us existing.” –@guskenworthypic.twitter.com/JBCfylt7rn
• Fitness model Quin Bruce looks ready for date night. #ThatFace #ThoseArms #Woof • Sixteen year-old Joshua Rush, who plays the Disney Channel’s first openly gay character on Andi Mack, says it was important to him to “do it right.”
• Members of the Republican-controlled Virginia House of Delegates on Thursday killed a proposed amendment to the House budget bill that would have added sexual orientation and gender identity to its nondiscrimination provision.
• In the aftermath of last week’s school massacre in Parkland, Florida, several major businesses are ending their partnerships with the National Rifle Association.
• According to Donald Trump, CNN and MSNBC are “failing.” But not according to the latest info from the Standard Media Index which shows that MSNBC grew its revenue from from January 2017 to last month by a 62% and CNN jumped 32% year-over-year. Fox News showed a polite 17% increase.
• Out bronze medalist Adam Rippon says with the Olympics coming to a close, he would definitely take time to chat with Vice President Mike Pence about LGBT issues.
But – Rippon doesn’t think the two have much to chat on: “Mike Pence doesn’t stand for anything that I was taught when I grew up, and I think that it’s important if you’re given the platform to speak up for those who don’t have a voice.”
“Mike Pence doesn’t stand for anything that I was taught when I grew up, and I think that it’s important if you’re given the platform to speak up for those who don’t have a voice.” @Adaripp tells @craigmelvinpic.twitter.com/w3No1ksMq4
Olympic bronze medalist Adam Rippon and Saturday Night Live‘s Leslie Jones dropped by the NBC Olympic studio last night to help out with some additional commentary alongside Scott Hamilton on gold medalist Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir’s free dance.
You may recall NBC Sports flew Jones to Rio in the middle of the 2016 Summer Olympics when her Twitter commentary took over the Twitterverse.
And, of course, we know NBC Sports had hoped Rippon would join their team for the remainder of the PyeongChang games as a correspondent, but the charming Rippon decided against taking the offer choosing to remain an Olympian and marching in the closing ceremonies.
Via Twitter, Rippon shared: “I am flattered that NBC wanted me to work as a correspondent for them here in PyeongChang. Doing this would require me to leave Team USA and move out of the Olympic Village. I don’t want to do that so I had to declined the opportunity.”
He added, “I love being on Team USA and representing our country. My teammates were there for me during my events, and now I NEED to be there for them. I look forward to being with them, and I’m very excited for the rest of the competition. Go Team USA!!!”
But at least we got a taste of what could have been 🙂
Watch Jones and Rippon in action with Scott Hamilton below.
