Disgraced cyclist and notorious cheater Lance Armstrong was a contestant on the Fox reality-competition series Stars on Mars along with Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, and Rippon was certainly not a fan of some comments Armstrong made about transgender athletes while on the show.
During the show, Lance Armstrong expressed his concern with transgender athletes competing in women’s sports during a conversation with fellow contestant Rhonda Rousey.
“Listen, this is real simple: You want to transition, let’s do it. You have your own category. We’re gonna have a whole new division. We’ll celebrate you just like we celebrate everybody else. Let’s go,” Armstrong said to Rousey. “What’s unfair about that?”
But according to Adam Rippon, these were not the only comments Armstrong made about the issue. He said it was much longer conversation that changed Rippon’s entire experience with the show.
“That’s when everything changed, when Lance brought up his opinions on trans athletes and sports. In the show, it’s a few minutes, but in reality, that was a long-winded conversation and it really shifted the focus. It changed my experience totally. It was not the same after that,” Rippon told Entertainment Weekly.
Rippon said that some of the comments that didn’t make the show were much more hateful.
“I do know that a lot of the things that were said that were not on the show were very transphobic, and I’m glad that trans people didn’t need to watch what was said. It was not nice and it was not good in any sort of way,” Rippon said.
Rippon also pointed out that Armstrong – a prolific cheater – is not the best person to discuss fairness in sports.
“The person talking about this is the most recognized cheater in all of sports. So it’s just not the right time, it’s not the right person,” Rippon said. “Just focus on what [host] William Shatner has to say and just get your job done.”
Rippon’s comments caused quite a few reactions on social media.
Lance armstrong, the disgraced cheater who dragged down an entire sport with his immense levels of cheating? That lance armstrong?
— Samantha (pronounced D-A-V-E by Nazis) (@Bithlord2) August 29, 2023
Renowned defender of integrity and fairness in sports Lance Armstrong
— aran (@arancaytar) August 29, 2023
It’s always the guys you most expect to be obsessed with trans people https://t.co/CaWngOVTWi
— Ari Drennen (@AriDrennen) August 29, 2023
mr jacked up fairness in sports has opinions https://t.co/dPvJWbj4SB
— gg 🙊🙈🙉 (@gina_goldberg) August 29, 2023
That explains Armstrong's more recent desire to "debate" these "questions." He's, of course, just a bigot. https://t.co/TiJkS7haoG
— Zack Ford (@ZackFord) August 29, 2023
It’s safe to say Rippon was not happy with Armstrong.
