Ever since Gus Kenworthy came out as gay, has been vocal about how overwhelmed he is with how everyone is so supportive and so kind towards him; in his recent interview with Attitude, however, the 24-year old British-born Coloradan world champion free skier said that not all responses he receives is positive.
Gus Kenworthy opened up to Attitude about one fellow skier who he thought was rude for comparing gay people to drug addicts.
The champion skier said, "You know, I get a lot of message from people saying 'This is ridiculous, I don't have a magazine cover for being straight,' and I'm like 'No shit!' It's expected that if you're sports; you're straight. And [his comments] really bummed me out because that's someone I've known for a number of years, and someone I compete against, and if he did feel these things, I felt like voicing it on a public forum like Instagram is just a little bit rude, I'd rather he'd just reached out to me."
He went on, saying, "The original caption [on his post] said 'I've got friends that are gay and friends that are drug addicts, and they don't have magazine covers,' and I was really upset by the fact he compared being gay to being a drug addict."
Advocate, in its report, identified the skier Kenworthy was talking about in the Attitude interview as Alex Schlopy, who won a gold medal at the 2011 Winter X Games but failed to be part of the U.S. Olympics team in Sochi, where Kenworthy won silver.
There was one Instagram post where Schlopy wrote: "I'm very proud of you for coming out and being you. It must be a huge weight off your shoulders my dude. Not gonna lie, we all knew... kind of haha. Doesn't matter. You're my boy either way. However, I do not like how you used your coming out to build yourself up even more."
The post, however, was removed and later on revised when Schlopy was backlashed by Instagram users. "I'm very proud of you Gus you are so strong and a very good friend," Schlopy wrote in the revised Instagram post.
