Lance Armstrong’s take on transgender athletes in sports has not made him a popular figure among his peers.
The former Tour de France champion – whose medals were ultimately stripped after it was revealed he took performance-enhancing drugs for much of his career – is currently a cast member on “Stars on Mars,” a Fox TV program where celebrities simulate what life on Mars would be like.
On the most recent episode of the show, Armstrong brought up a recent episode of his “The Forward” podcast, in which he interviewed Caitlyn Jenner and discussed transgender athletes, suggesting that biological males shouldn’t compete in women’s sports – and his fellow cast members were not having it.
“To me, I think you just have to care about, if you ‘otherize’ people, it’s not good for their mental health,” said singer Tinashe, also a contestant on the show.
“…You’re ostracizing the people that don’t fit into the categories.”
A few seconds later in the episode, Tinashe continued to rip Armstrong in a camera confessional.
“I wasn’t really shocked to hear his opinions, but I definitely didn’t think that he should be the spokesperson for that,” she said.
Adam Rippon, a former Olympic figure skater who is openly gay, also was not thrilled by Armstrong’s comments, calling them “so disheartening.”
“Those comments here, in this experiment, have completely shifted the energy, and have completely shifted the focus, and I will not ever forget them,” Rippon continued.
In an attempt to defend himself, Armstrong insisted that he is all for transgender rights – just not in sports.
“One of my most key employees, they’re transitioning, I have no problem with that. I love it. Let’s go,” he said.
“And I said to the guy on the podcast, listen, this is real simple. You want to transition? Let’s do it – you have your own category. We’re going to have a whole new division. We’ll celebrate you just like we celebrate everyone else. Let’s go. What’s unfair about that?
“By the way, I sound like a right-wing lunatic. I’m not,” he added. “I’m the most liberal person, but from a sporting perspective…”
Armstrong taking up the mantle of fairness in athletics has certainly raised some eyebrows, considering he is one of the most infamous cheaters in sports history.
Still, it doesn’t seem like a topic he will give up on anytime soon.
“You might not agree with me, and I might not agree with you, but that’s ok,” he said. “And there’s a lot of sensitive subjects. It’s not just trans issues and trans in sports, it could be abortion, it could be war, it could be gun violence, anything. Global warming. But if you can’t feel safe to enter into the conversation, then we’ve all lost.”
