„I am who I am and I’m proud of who I am.“
Shortly after winning the third Olympic gold medal of his career, snowboarder Shaun White was faced with a question about how allegations of sexual harassment levied against him could impact his legacy.
Matt Gutman of ABC News offered the question to White at a time when it seems more relevant than ever. In the #MeToo era, powerful men in all fields have been forced to answer for their abusive actions toward women.
“Over the past couple of days, the sexual harassment allegations against you by Lena Zawaideh have resurfaced,” Gutman explained to the snowboarder. “Are you concerned that they’re going to tarnish your legacy?”
Shaun White on if he thinks the sexual harassment allegations against him will tarnish his legacy: “You know, honestly, here to talk about the Olympics, not gossip.” pic.twitter.com/45I1DjTB2u
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) February 14,2018
“Um, you know honestly, here to talk about the Olympics. Not gossip. So, um — but, uh, I don’t think so. I am who I am, and I’m proud of who I am. And my friends, you know, love me and vouch for me, and I think that stands on its own.”
GUTMAN: “So you’re saying that the allegations against you are gossip?”
MODERATOR: “I think we’re here to talk about the gold medal and the amazing day we had today. Thank you, so if you don’t have another question, why don’t we just go ahead and pass the mic?”
GUTMAN: “I’d like it to be addressed, just a little bit. I mean…”
MODERATOR: “Like I said, I think we’re here to talk about the gold medal and the amazing day we had today.”
WHITE: “I feel like I addressed it.”
Shaun White just called the awful allegations against him “gossip” in a press conference where no woman journalist was called upon even though several, including me, had their hand up the entire time. #MeToo
— Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) February 14,2018
“I’m truly sorry that I chose the word gossip. It was a poor choice of words to describe such a sensitive subject in the world today.” @shaunwhite on his remarks at news conference when asked about harassment case pic.twitter.com/5q9jyCL61m
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 14,2018
The allegations against White come from Zawaideh, the former drummer of White’s band. White is accused of leveraging his position as financier of the band to force Zawaideh to change her appearance and wear sexually revealing outfits against her will. White is also said to have sent Zawaideh sexually explicit pictures and forced her to watch disturbing sexual videos against her will.
In one incident, Zawaideh claims White put his hands down his pants, removed them, and attempted to force her to smell them.
“Shaun took some kind of joy in seeing how much he could break me down and mess with me,” Zawaideh told Page Six in 2016. “I don’t know why, but every time he saw that I was uncomfortable with something, he would just keep going just to be like, ‚Can I break her?‘ That’s not acceptable for an employee, which I was. Contractually.”
