I’m Team Gus Kenworthy This Olympics

The Olympics have only just begun, and already we got to watch Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie carry the Olympic torch, and we have at least one athlete peeing an anti-ICE message into the snow. It’s going to be a great 17 days.

On Wednesday, skier Gus Kenworthy, who’s competing for team Great Britain, wrote “fuck ice” in urine—using the wand that God gave him—and posted it to Instagram. In the caption, the 34-year-old encouraged Americans to contact their local politicians to “speak up against ICE and put pressure on them during the current DHS negotiations,” adding a script they could read to get “ICE and CBP out of our communities.

While Kenworthy was born in the U.K., he moved to Colorado when he was two and has lived in the U.S. for most of his life. He competed for the U.S. in Sochi in 2014 and PyeongChang in 2018 before switching to Team GB for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, saying it felt “more patriotic” to do so.

Kenworthy was the second openly gay man to compete for the U.S. ahead of the Beijing Games and criticized the IOC for choosing China, saying the country was “not well suited” to host the games for its “appalling” human rights records and its anti-LGBTQ+ track record. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by gus kenworthy (@guskenworthy)

Technically, Rule 50.2 of the Olympic Charter prohibits any kind of “political, religious, or racial propaganda” in any sites, venues, or areas. But Kenworthy’s messaging took place outside the Olympic environment, was posted to his personal social media account, and didn’t make mention of Team GB. 

“During the Olympic Games, all participants have the opportunity to express their views as per the athlete expression guidelines,” an International Olympic Committee spokesperson said on Friday. “The IOC does not regulate personal social media posts.”

On Friday morning, Kenworthy posted a slideshow, writing, “My last post was pee so it only felt appropriate to follow it up with a lil’ dump … of photos from January. Yes, I am a child. 💩” Love it.  Go Team Gus.  

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