Mother of Gay Olympic Athlete Adam Rippon Denies Reports Her Son Refused to Meet With Pence
CNN’s Chris Cuomo spoke today with the mother of the U.S. Olympian who reportedly rejected a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence due to his controversial history with LGBT issues.
As Pence prepares to lead America’s delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, USA Today states that he recently tried to set up a meeting with gay figure skater Adam Rippon. The report says that Pence wanted to speak with Rippon after he criticized the vice president’s stance on gay rights, though the Olympian wouldn’t take the meeting.
The vice president’s team insist the story isn’t true, and Pence himself got on Twitter to cry “fake news.”
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 (@VP) February 8, 2018
Kelly Rippon, Adam’s mother, called into New Day on Thursday, and Cuomo asked her for what she knew about any efforts by Pence for a face-to-face discussion. Mrs. Rippon couldn’t confirm whether her son received a request for a meeting, but she insisted that Adam didn’t slam the door on Pence, and that he’d just rather focus on the games right now instead of a meeting with the vice president.
Mrs. Rippon said she was bothered by Pence’s “fake news” tweet because it implies that the vice president cannot be held accountable to anything as long as he keeps saying it’s not true. Cuomo also asked her for her thoughts about the most disputable parts of Pence’s history with LGBT matters.
Watch above, via CNN.
[Image via screengrab]
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