Olympian Johnny Weir wore a Russian military uniform during an
appearance on Keith Olbermann's ESPN show Olbermann to
discuss a proposed boycott of the Winter Olympics in Sochi over an
anti-gay law.
Weir reiterated his opposition to a boycott over Russia's “gay
propaganda” law, which prohibits the public promotion of gay rights
to minors.
In his monologue, Olbermann skewered the head of the Sochi Games
for asking the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for its help in
stopping the proposed boycott from going forward.
“The Russian Olympic organizers don't want the IOC's help in say
getting the laws repealed, or mitigated. The Russian Olympic
organizers don't want the IOC's help in setting up an international
dialogue about how enlightened nations could possibly participate
while these laws are on the books. The Russian Olympic organizers
don't want the IOC's help in finding a way out of the lose, lose,
lose options unfolding in front of them just 150 days out,”
Olbermann
told viewers. “The Russian Olympic organizers want, in the
words today of one blogger, the IOC's help in 'making the mean gays
stop.'”
Weir told Olbermann that he was opposed to an Olympic boycott
because it “would be a slap in the face to the people [family] that
made me who I am and gave me the opportunities to be who I am, an
Olympian, first and foremost. Before a gay man, before a white man,
I am an Olympian and that's what I worked for from age 12. And a
boycott would negate all of that. And also it would basically punish
all of the non-LGBT athletes that would be on the U.S. Olympic Team
for Sochi.”. (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
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