Gus Kenworthy is dealing with a minor injury ahead of the Sunday slopestyle competition. The only impact it will have is on any potential run-in with the US Vice-President Mike Pence.
The freestyle skier announced that he broke his right thumb in a practice session on Thursday evening.
This should not affect his performance on the slopes, “but it does prevent me from shaking [Mike] Pence’s hand,” he joked.
He said:
“Broke my thumb yesterday in practice. It won’t stop me from competing (obvi) but it does prevent me from shaking Pence’s hand so… Silver linings! Will be giving my teammates (and literally everyone else) an enthusiastic “thumbs up!” of encouragement the rest of the trip.”
Broke my thumb yesterday in practice. It won't stop me from competing (obvi) but it does prevent me from shaking Pence's hand so… Silver linings! Will be giving my teammates (and literally everyone else) an enthusiastic "thumbs up!" of encouragement the rest of the trip. pic.twitter.com/XylPPGAq9P
— Gus Kenworthy (@guskenworthy) February 15, 2018
This follows an ongoing feud between Kentworthy and US Vice-President Mike Pence. In an interview with CBS, Gus said he had “no patience” for the administration’s actions “attacking” the LGBT+ community.
“When we have people elected into office that believe in conversion therapy and are trying to strip trans rights in the military and do these things that are directly attacking the LGBT community, I have no patience,” he said.
This is believed to be in response to claims that Mike Pence is a supporter of “gay conversion therapy”.
Mike Pence’s office has denied these claims. Fellow Olympian and openly gay figure skater Adam Rippon have also spoken about his views on Pence.
There were also reports last week that Rippon declined a meeting with Mike Pence.
This has resulted in a back and forth between the Olympians and the VP. Pence took to Twitter to denounce the reports that he had endorsed gay conversion therapy saying:
Headed to the Olympics to cheer on #TeamUSA. One reporter trying to distort 18 yr old nonstory to sow seeds of division. We won’t let that happen! #FAKENEWS. Our athletes are the best in the world and we are for ALL of them! #TEAMUSA
Headed to the Olympics to cheer on #TeamUSA. One reporter trying to distort 18 yr old nonstory to sow seeds of division. We won’t let that happen! #FAKENEWS. Our athletes are the best in the world and we are for ALL of them! #TEAMUSA
— Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) February 8, 2018
Gus Kenworthy and Adam Rippon posted an Instagram photo together during the opening ceremony which spoke about how proud they were to be representing the LGBTQ community using hashtag TeamUSGay and “Eat your heart out, Pence.”
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