In an interview broadcast Thursday, out
Olympian Adam Rippon expanded on his decision to boycott a visit to
the White House in protest of President Donald Trump's policies.
Fellow out Olympian Gus Kenworthy, who
also skipped the visit, interviewed Rippon for the ABC News segment
which aired on Nightline.
Rippon said that he does not think less
of people who attended the event because “going to the White House
is an incredible experience.”
“This is different because this isn't
politics aside. This is human decency first. No matter if it's a
Democrat or a Republican in office, the Olympics are about the
country coming together. We even saw it with so many athletes not
going to the White House. And it's just a simple act, but I think
that it's important that if we see an administration that
discriminates against trans members in the military or our own
Muslim-American citizens, that we need to speak up,” Rippon said.
When Kenworthy asked, “Are you
America's sweetheart?” Rippon admitted that he gave himself the
title.
“I gave myself that title because I
was like, you know, I feel in a very powerful place right now. I'm
going to say that I'm America's sweetheart once and see what happens.
I said it once in a press conference. And then I did something on
the news. And I could read on the screen underneath, and it was
like, America's sweetheart, Adam Rippon,” he said.
“And I was like ...” Rippon
started.
“You've arrived,” Kenworthy
interrupted.
“Yeah,” Rippon responded.