Lance Armstrong’s transphobic comments about transgender athletes on Fox’s reality show Stars on Mars were even worse than they seemed, says Adam Rippon.
The iconic Olympian, who won the show’s inaugural season at the end of Monday’s finale, opened up about how Armstrong’s words reverberated throughout the cast.
“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,” Rippon told Entertainment Weekly. “It changed my experience totally. It was not the same after that.”
During an episode that aired in July, Armstrong, who was seated at a table alongside other cast members, started talking about how he thinks transgender athletes should compete in their own category.
“This is real simple: you want to transition? Let’s do it. You have your own category,” he said. “We’re going to have a whole new division. We’ll celebrate you, just like we would celebrate anybody else. What’s unfair about that?”
The pop star Tinashe countered Armstrong, explaining that excluding transgender athletes from certain spaces could have detrimental affects on their mental health.
But the prolific performance-enhancing drug user was obstinate.
“Actually, we’re not excluding anybody,” said Armstrong. “By the way, I sound like a right-wing lunatic. I’m not. I’m the most liberal person. But from a sporting perspective…”
While Rippon was quiet during the scene, he says he was fuming underneath. Last month, he blasted Armstrong’s comments as “inappropriate,” and called him the “greatest cheater in American history” (not a bad retort, if we say so ourselves).
Off-camera, Rippon says Armstrong continued the conversation, despite his obvious misgivings.
“What happens next is Lance comes over and we have a conversation, me and him, for probably the next 15 or 20 minutes. It just wouldn’t end,” Rippon told EW. “Every time I’m saying something, I’m lilting, like it’s over, let’s just stop. He couldn’t let it go. And it made me wildly uncomfortable.”
An accomplished figure skater, Rippon became the U.S.’ first out gay athlete to medal at the Winter Olympics, when he won bronze in the figure skating team event at Seoul 2018. Since then, he’s become an unabashedly gay American icon–even working the Red Carpet in a harness.
With that in mind, Rippon says he felt a responsibility to speak up on behalf of LGBTQ+ athletes, even though he’s not a transgender person himself.
“I wanted to be a representation of the LGBTQ+ community and that was a moment where I wanted to say something, but I don’t know everything about being a trans person,” he explained. “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.”
There’s also the fact that Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and an Olympic bronze medal for PED use, is possibly the worst person to talk about 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. Just focus on what [host] William Shatner has to say and just get your job done,” said Rippon.
In spite of Armstrong’s presence, Rippon continued on the show, and won the competition. The show featured numerous celebrities living with each other in the same space station and simulating life on Mars.
It’s apparent Rippon is proud of his astronautic efforts.
“I am so grateful for the time I got to spend filming this show. I laughed, I cried, I won(!!!),” he posted on Instagram. “Thank you to EVERYONE who put in so much work and made this crazy show a reality. The cast, the crew, everyone. And last but not least; I love you, William Shatner!”
In addition to winning the competition, it seems like Rippon made a new bestie. He also posted a pic of himself enjoying some post-show libations with the one and only Tinashe.
Now that’s a tandem we can get behind!
With a season victory on Dancing with the Stars also under his belt, Rippon has shown his winning ways can carry over from the ice to the small screen. We can’t wait to see what’s next for one of our favorite bold heartthrobs, who’s long left Armstrong in the dust…
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ShaverC
What about the mental health of the women who don’t want to compete with a man who has a great advantage over them? They work for years to get to an elite position only for the top spots to be usurped by a man who decided to become a trans woman.
ZzBomb
Oh look, a person with no medical license, or understanding of the human body has an opinion on something they know nothing about!
Mack
ZzBomb, I have to agree with you on that one. There is a reason why someone becomes a “trans woman” as he says and it has nothing to do with sports. I do believe however if a trans man or woman competes, they should have completed their transition. I find (even though not mentioned here) Caitlyn Jenner’s stance is funny since she against trans women in sports yet she competes in women’s golf.
ShaverC
ZzBomb, You don’t need a medical license to understand the advantages someone who went through male puberty versus someone who went through female puberty. This is why there really is no issue with trans men going into men’s sports, they will never get to an elite level.
You can support trans women but acknowledge that there is a difference between a woman, and a trans woman.
decrans
Here comes the bleating ‘Trans women are women!’ routine. At the end of the day, the far-left gender ideologues only have slogans. Similar to the left’s “Black Lives Matter,” “The One Percent,” etc. These people don’t have practical policies. They basically have bumper stickers. And that’s why I left that dumpster fire political ideology.
ZzBomb
“who went through male puberty versus someone who went through female puberty.”
And yet every medical, licensed, professional or doctor who works on human gender say otherwise based on what transgender people go thru to transition. So yeah, you should have a medical license in order to speak on the subject, or face criticism for your ignorance.
This is another episode of: YOU’RE NOT A SCIENTIST
decrans
Not every. Quit spouting propaganda lies and stick to the facts.
S.anderson
It’s like, on one hand “Oh, why won’t anyone think of the delicate transpeople?” and then literally a second later, it’s “haw, sneer, the CIS people can just get used to it, haw haw”. Only noobs and rubes buy the trans suicide narrative any more, especially in light of routine public antipathy by trans and their allies. And this is why the trans movement doesn’t have more allies. And why the allies it does have demonstrate hostility and notoriously bad independent thought.
And how being 90% on board with trans doctrine, as Armstrong seems to be, means you’re not 100% there, which means you’re still “highly transphobic” and basically just another enemy of all transkind. Oh brother.
While I would be interested to see what happens when transmen and transwomen compete in a separate trans athletics, we know “separate but equal” doesn’t work. Still, it would be most interesting to see how trans athletes react when CIS athletes sue to play with them according to personality and grooming and not physicality. I can not imagine anything happening but indignant defense of “trans space”.
In athletics, the gender labels; “boy”, “girl”, “man” and “woman” are legacy terms actually referring to biological sex. After all, athletics are not organized by gender but by sex. And this makes sense owing to the great physical differences between male and female.
Let’s just re-organize athletics by WEIGHT CLASS and EXPERIENCE. We group folks together according to their seasons of experience, physical size and strength instead of genitals and/or gender stereotypes. I’m not even concerned with locker room modesty; I’ve lived in clothing-optional co-ed housing and I think guys and gals of any gender can quickly get used to bathing and gearing up together.
ShaverC
ZzBomb, Like Decrans wrote, No, not every. Do you think it’s fair for a 110lb trans male to compete with 200lbs of man?
Fahd
Even though I don’t like tattletales and even though he said he “loves” William Shatner (Oh God!), I am okay with it all, because it’s Adam Rippon, the most organized and tidiest homeowner to every appear on televison.
frapachino
Oh gee thanks I don’t think I could have gone on without this fascinating tidbit!
Mister P
This is more about invalidating the existence of trans people than it is about fairness in sports. They won’t stop there. Next it will be separate categories for gay guys and lesbians.
The small problem can be dealt with on a one by one basis with out legislating away people.
still_onthemark
For adult athletes, nobody is “legislating” anything. It’s the international sports associations that regulate this. For some reason, a lot of Americans get the strange, self-centered idea that U.S. government action can “solve” this issue one way or the other.
ShaverC
still_onthemark, “Legislating” and “regulating” are synonyms.
still_onthemark
@ShaverC: You must have a different dictionary than I do, and for example a state legislature is not the same thing as a state regulatory agency.
decrans
What about the PTSD of rape survivor Paula Scanlon who was forced to change with Lia Thomas in the locker room? Her mental health apparently doesn’t matter in this instance. The far-left gender ideologues brim with narcissism. This is rather obvious when looking at Adam Rippon’s career.
Matt
Tinashe never disappoints. Love her.
inbama
Transmen face the same disadvantages competing with biological males that actual women face competing with transwomen.
The indisputable fact that you don’t see transmen going from a mediocre rating in women’s sports to the top of male sports (as Lia Thomas did in reverse) proves the advantage of a male puberty.
You don’t need a medical license to acknowledge reality.
decrans
Preach!
Jeffrey
The reality is that trans man Patricio Manuel just won his 3rd boxing match over a cis man. That’s the reality.
decrans
The reality is that transitioning produces different outcomes for different people. The liberal ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach doesn’t work with something that’s inherently experimental.
Mister P
No one is being forced to shower in front of anyone. If someone is uncomfortable in a locker room or bathroom it’s ok to wait or go somewhere else.
Stop making this such a big deal. I
There are more important issues.
decrans
A few things. One: Your side bellyaches about trans mental health. Funny thing: When a cisgender female rape survivor speaks up about how it was detrimental to her mental health, you want to wallpaper over her experience. So, it comes down to this: You either care about everyone’s mental health or only your prized demographic. This person (Paula Scanlon) was not provided with resources. And here we hear liberals going on and on about resources for this group and that group. I’ve said this before. Either your political ideology (liberalism) is empty sloganeering, or you need to get off your rear and start addressing these loopholes. No 2: The women’s locker room exists for female safety. Now, you can open up to all genders and let the rapes occur, come what may. That has also started to happen in some jurisdictions. Not widespread, but that’s the brave new world. And again, there are scant resources despite how liberals love to talk a big game. So again, the far-left gender ideologues are coming up with loopholes. That’s not the conservative person’s loophole to address. Y’all created the loophole and you refuse to address said loophole. That’s on you.
decrans
It’s similar to the First Lady of California tut-tutting about mental health on Twitter. “There’s a mental health care crisis in this country. Whatever should we do?” Well, it starts by listening to people’s experiences irrespective of political labels. The far-left gender ideologues don’t want to hear about women rape survivors or de-transitioners. And this is why I became so vocally conservative.
Mister P
Really? You think the liberal agenda is letting rapes occur?
decrans
Are you doing anything about the locker room rapes in North Carolina? The Wi Spa here in Los Angeles? Are you just pretending they aren’t happening (much like the conservatives with mass shootings)? Chew on that. Thank you very much.
dwick
Rape? I googled Wi Spa and came up with indecent exposure, but not rape. Not one article. Maybe my google is broken.
Mister P
Dee Trans. I like you. I think you have a lot to offer. Ease up on the hyperbole. We can solve more problems together than apart.
Diplomat
Trans women have lost sight of themselves. They prefer to think they don’t have a penis or higher testosterone than females. This otheration of the self in therapy is called denialism. Trans women aren’t women, they are both male and female. They are part of the binary, they just contain both. Therefore since they are not exclusively male or female, their category is both. Therefore a sports category for trans seems highly realistic and more based in reality than continuing to back this notion that they are exclusively male or female, since they are both.
S.anderson
Reading down the list of comments and sad to see few people keep it straight.
Transwomen are women. Male women. Transmen are men. Female men.
M/F are fundamental biology, while man/ woman/ etc. are constructs that anyone may adopt.
The rational goal is to match up similar bodies and ignore the personality and grooming.
Trans want the biology and physiology to be ignored and to blatantly match up those who dress and groom alike, regardless of their weight, build, fundamental strength, etc.
Let’s be rational.
London_Resistance2
We’ve arrived at this mad state of affairs where otherwise sensible people are arguing that we should let men who identify as trans compete against real women and girls, because we were too kind in the past and called these men trans-women
well no more. Let’s take the ‘women’ part out of the equation and call these men what they are: trans identified men.
Stop being kind, stop being nice. I mean allow blokes to dress how they want and if you want to participate in their sexual kink with them then in the solitude of your bedroom, please do so. But for the rest of us these men are just that, men.
And men should not be competing with girls and women in sports.
S.anderson
Perhaps it’s clearer to say that transmen are man-identified females, and transwomen are woman-identified males. There appear to be males and females who identify as other things too, but remember that the male and female aspect is not an identity or construct. “Man” and “woman” are constructs derived from Traditional Sex Roles AKA Gender Stereotypes.
It seems fair for males (however they identify) to compete with females (however they identify) as long as they were matched up according to their weight, size, strength and experience level. Yes, this would mean that many big, muscular transwomen would be denied the opportunity to compete against slim, blonde CIS Tiffany, but what the feck do they expect?
Diplomat
S.
I disagree. Men and women should be kept separate from trans people in sports. Trans people are their own type. To start chopping up features like weight etc doesn’t hide the fact that trans people are different from exclusive male and female. It makes no sense to mix hamburger with cookie dough. Hence it makes no sense to mix trans with males or females. Sweden got it right from day one. They never allowed trans women in women’s sports and they are very liberal with alot more data on trans than we have. Hence we should look to their expertise in these matters. They’ve been dealing with trans issues since 1972.
LumpyPillows
The original lie was that trans women are women. I never agreed to that lie. It is the root of all the problems we now have.
S.anderson
Think about that now. The lie is that transwomen are FEMALE and transmen are MALE.
Boy, Girl, Man, Woman are just constructs. These constructs are assigned according to sex by a given culture’s Traditional Sex Roles AKA Gender Stereotypes. Current parlance is to refer to them as “gender” when they are “gender identities”. Current parlance is also to selectively confuse sex for gender and folks like me are not having that.
Males can be girls or women or other if they like. Females can be boys or men or other if they like. Not my monkeys, not my circus.
Diplomat
“Males can be girls or women or other if they like. Females can be boys or men or other if they like. ”
No they can’t. They can only call themselves what they are not, they can’t be what they are not. Language is on trial here so please be specific with who you’re talking about.
LumpyPillows
Gender is not a construct. That’s the next lie. There are gender constructs – rules and behaviors based on gender. True. Gender is not a construct. Period. A man cannot be a girl. People can be as weird as they want. They can behave and looks however they want. Still does not change what they are.
S.anderson
It’s SO interesting how some people insist on assigning “man” to all males, and “woman” to all females – if they’re trans! It’s accurate 199 times out of 200, but it’s nobody’s business to police folks who are non-conforming.
Inversely, if the target is lesbian, gay or bisexual, the haters insist on scornfully stripping males of the identity “boy” or “man” and females of the identity “girl” or “woman”. Again, it’s not up to society to decide if a femme guy identifies as a man, or a butch gal identifies as a woman.
By the way, a man* who identifies as trans would logically be physically female, so why would haters still object? lol
*Man is a gender identity. A construct.
Godabed
I am sitting here eating, I did not need to see photos of a dog shitting… gross!
LumpyPillows
Really this has become women hating – misogynistic nonsense. I will not submit to the lunatic badgering and vitriol on the subject. The gender anarchists are so obnoxious. Trans women are not women. More importantly, most of these “trans” women aren’t even really trans. They’re just playing make-believe and have no real issues of gender dysphoria.
alexpof
trans athletes belong to trans categories why is that hard to understand
LumpyPillows
It’s not, if you’re rational.
inbama
Martina Navratilova, lesbian activist and considered by many the greatest women’s tennis player of all time, released this article today: “Five Years Later: What I’ve Learned About Women and Men in Sports”
It can be found at: genspect DOT org/martina-navratilova-five-years-later/
Observant
Thanks for recommending this well-written and fully considered article. Navratilova speaks empathetically from personal experiences and relationships. Still, she and likeminded individuals will continue to be vilified as TERFs by TURDs (trans-activists undermining rational discussion), hoping to destroy their reputations and livelihood.
As it is with Rippon’s judgment of Armstrong, who has already paid dearly for his sins; if you don’t acquiesce to every trans assertion, no matter how supportive you are of the trans community, you’re immediately labeled a transphobe who must be shamed and personally attacked.