Appearing on TBS' Conan, Olympic
free-skier Gus Kenworthy explained why he was glad that he did not
come out gay during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Kenworthy, who won the silver medal in
Sochi, came out last year in a cover story for ESPN Magazine.
“You considered for a while at Sochi
coming out maybe on live television at the Olympics. What were you
contemplating?” host Conan O'Brien asked.
“Well, leading into the Russian
Olympics there was all this anti-LGBT legislature,” Kenworthy
answered. “And they warned people about, like, if any of the
athletes are gay, try not to show it kind of, because it's very
unsafe, it's not accepted. I was like, 'That's bullshit.'”
Kenworthy said that he considered
kissing his boyfriend during the games.
“It didn't happen. I'm glad it
didn't actually, because I hadn't told my mom, my dad, my brothers.
It would have not only been a shock to the sport and to the Olympics,
but like my family would have been, 'What the hell?'” Kenworthy
said to a round of laughter.
He added that he's had a “great”
response to his coming out.