PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon’s agent said Saturday afternoon that he was told Vice President Pence “wanted to have a direct conversation on the phone with Adam as soon as it could possibly be arranged” after the publication of my USA TODAY Sports story Jan. 17 in which Rippon, who is openly gay, was critical of Pence.
“That was 100 percent true,” David Baden said in a phone interview. “We were contacted by the appropriate channels that the vice president wanted to talk to Adam. What I did is I called Adam and I explained the request and I wanted to get his feedback on it. We talked about it and he said he would think about it. He was really taken aback. He never expected it to get to that point. He wanted to think about it.
“The next day,” Baden said, “we talked again and Adam said he gave it a lot of thought and understood who was asking for the meeting. He said now is not the time for this, I’m really getting into my training mode, I want to represent my country the best I can.”
Rippon told Baden that if there is a conversation with Pence at some point in the future, he doesn’t want it to be just the two of them.
“Adam told me, ‘I already have a voice, but there are a lot of young kids out there who don’t have a voice, and if I decide to have a conversation with the vice president after my competition is done, I’d like to take some of these young kids who are really struggling and have their voices heard too,’” Baden said.
Baden’s account confirmed what I reported earlier this week: Pence was so concerned about Rippon’s criticism that he wanted to have a conversation with him, an offer that Rippon declined. Pence’s communications office then denied the USA TODAY story and Pence later called it #FakeNews on Twitter.
The spat between the vice president and the figure skater began when I asked Rippon last month about Pence’s selection for the ceremonial role of leading the U.S. delegation to the Olympic opening ceremony.
“You mean Mike Pence, the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy? I’m not buying it,” Rippon said.
After reading the story online, Pence’s press secretary quickly shot back, sending USA TODAY Sports a rebuttal to Rippon’s comments:
“The vice president is proud to lead the U.S. delegation to the Olympics and support America’s incredible athletes,” press secretary Alyssa Farah said. “This accusation is totally false and has no basis in fact. Despite these misinformed claims, the vice president will be enthusiastically supporting all the U.S. athletes competing next month in Pyeongchang.”
