One should learn by now that Adam Rippon is not to be played with.
The Decorated Olympian not only clapped back but doubled down on his charitable efforts after a fellow figure skater said some pretty awful things about him.
Alexei Yagudin, who won the gold medal in Men’s Singles at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City, criticized Rippon after he made a $1,000 donation to The Okra Project, a charity that provides food for Black transgender people.
He called Rippon “awful and disgusting” while adding something truly horrific. “Adam! When will you die? Earth’s mistake!”
Rippon responded to those hurtful words in an Instagram video of his own posted on Tuesday, June 9. He spoke out because although “nobody cares what Alexei Yagudin has to say… his ignorance is honestly shared by so many people who are still in sports”.
“We’ve come a very long way, but we have such a long way still to go,” he continued. ““I think sometimes people are surprised that I was the first openly gay person to compete in figure skating for Team USA at the Olympics, and this is just an excellent example of why so many people feel uncomfortable and afraid to share who they are.”
“There are people who are really famous within their sport, and are also homophobic, transphobic and racist,” Rippon also said while touching on some of the anti-LGBTQ statements that Yagudin has said in the past. “But this is the first time he’s ever said anything about me, and that was his mistake.”
Rippon mentioned that Yagudin did apologize to him for wishing that he died but it fell on deaf ears. “He said he was sorry for saying that he wished that I was dead… wow, thank you! I don’t accept his apology because I don’t want it. He can take his apology, his homophobia, his transphobia, his racism and his Olympic gold medal and shove them all the way up his entire a**.
“To my LGBT+ plus family in Russia, in sports and everywhere, I just want you to know that you are perfect just the way you are, and don’t let anyone try and convince you otherwise.”
He made the matter that much sweeter by donating an additional $1,000 to The Okra Project in Yagudin’s name. “In closing, don’t f**k with me, Black Trans Lives Matter, and Happy Pride everyone!”