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Nathan Chen scandal: Olympic ice skating champion apologizes for past 'homophobic' remarks

Chen had been the favorite going into the Thursday event at the Beijing Winter Games on February 10

American champion ice skater Nathan Chen made waves after winning his first Olympic gold medal in Beijing with an outstanding performance in the men's single skating competition. While the Olympian is basking in the limelight, he has previously courted controversy for comments that were deemed "homophobic".

Chen had been the favorite going into the Thursday event on February 10 at the Beijing Winter Games. The 22-year-old pulled off his victory after showing off his technical prowess in a long program packed with flawless moves, thereby earning the nickname of the "quad king."

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While Chen deserves to celebrate his historic win, he has previously apologized for homophobic comments he made on a podcast where he vented his frustrations dealing with stereotypes “as a straight male athlete in a... fairly.... homosexual-dominated sport, or LGBTQ-dominated sport.” The athlete was asked in a podcast last July whether people wondered why he didn't play hockey because it is considered a masculine sport, instead of the feminine connotations associated with ice skating.

"Yes, certainly," he responded. "Especially as a male athlete... as a straight male athlete in a... fairly.... homosexual-dominated sport, or LGBTQ-dominated sport... I think that there is that connotation and there is that 'Well we don’t really wanna watch guys skate around,' and [unintelligible] we’d rather watch hockey or... we’d rather watch females do that, which I think is... pretty messed up in itself... we’re all doing this... for us, it’s a genuine sport... we spend our whole lives trying to hone this craft... and to just sort of be belittled like that is not... something that is... generally taken lightly."

Chen continued, “But I think that... a lot of my friends who are skaters are trying to in a sense change the way that that’s approached, because... traditionally speaking we always skate to a lot of classic pieces, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, I think that’s absolutely fine, I think [if] that’s something you’re passionate about, that you connect with, that’s totally cool, but I think there can be pieces out there, some of my friends and skaters like... more pop or hip hop style songs and that generates a lot more interest, like, ‘Oh, dude,’ you know, one of my friends skated to ‘Turn Down For What,’ ... and people lost their minds for that... and obviously that’s not... the most absurd song... but... within the skating world, that’s pretty kind of like out there... and I think just having a little bit more... hip hop or more like a dance feel that doesn’t necessarily gear towards... posh sort of ballet-style movement can... shift that approach to skating.”

Chen's comments sparked quite the backlash from the LGBTQ community, prompting him to apologize and acknowledge that his remarks were hurtful. "I’ve taken the time to read your words, hear from many of you personally, and have some really important conversations. I appreciate your honesty and accountability, and I owe you an apology," he tweeted alongside a video statement. “I recently did an interview where I was asked if people ever ask me why I don’t play hockey because of the connotation that skating is quote-unquote feminine and hockey is quote-unquote masculine," he explained. “I gave an ignorant response to the question and I want to apologize for that. At that moment I had the opportunity to shut down the perception that there is such a thing as a masculine or feminine sport and to shed light that these perceptions have created an environment that make it unsafe, stigmatizing, and even career-ending for athletes to come out."

“Skating is an art form as much as it is a sport. And the beauty in that is that there is room for individual expression and that’s something that should be celebrated," Chen offered. "But instead of saying something meaningful I blurted out statements that aren’t even true, used language that’s harmful to the LGBTQIA+ community and to women and minorities, and centered the response around myself."

He concluded by saying, “This was my chance to build toward more inclusivity in the sport and I messed it up. At the end of the day, I love skating and all the people in it and I’m committed to growing myself so that I can be a more deserving member of the figure skating community. To those who reached out and spoke up, thank you for your honesty and accountability. I’m inspired by your drive to make the world a better place.