Gold-medal Olympian Shaun White has made formal apology for calling sexual harassment allegations against him “gossip.”
“I’m truly sorry that I chose the word gossip,” White said. “It was a poor choice of words to describe such a sensitive subject in the world today. It’s amazing how life works and twists and turns and lessons learned.”
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“Every experience in my life I feel like it’s taught me a lesson and I definitely feel like I’m a much more changed person then I was when I was younger,” he added, as reported by Us Weekly.
The apology comes after White was asked about past sexual harassment allegations during a press conference following his third gold-medal win.
White dismissed the question and the allegations as “gossip,” which drew the ire of many people.
The allegations stem from a 2016 lawsuit which was filed against him by a a woman named Lena Zawaideh, who was the drummer in his band Bad Things. Zawaideh claimed that White sent her explicit messages and nude images of himself.
White did acknowledge the texts in a previous statement delivered through his lawyer, which read, “Many years ago, I exchanged texts with a friend who is now using them to craft a bogus lawsuit. There is absolutely no coincidence to the timing of her claims, and we will defend them vigorously in court.”
Ultimately the lawsuit was settled out of court.
White’s comments are certainly causing a stir, but they are far from being the only controversy during the 2016 Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
According to reports, before the events even kicked off, the International Olympic Committee banned the Russian team from even competing as a result of discovering “systematic doping” that they believe to be state-backed.
Russian officials are barred from attending the games, the Russian flag will not be flown or displayed and the Russian anthem will not be played, per a New York Times story.
However, Russian athletes are not completely prohibited from competing, as some could receive special dispensation. In the event they do, they will compete while wearing a neutral uniform and if they win any medals the official Olympic records will not reflect as Russian state wins.
Additionally, Thomas Bach, the president of International Olympic Committee, revealed that there will actually be a special ceremony to re-distribute the medals that were awarded at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
This is due to the Russian athletes being stripped of their medals from those games after the mass doping discovery.
Officials from Russia have argued that the country has been trying to reverse the doping issue and they deserve a second chance, as well as help from the Olympic Committee to solve the problem.
Vitaly Stepanov, one of the chief whistle-blowers in Russia’s alleged doping scheme, disagreed with the claims that Russia was trying to resolve the situation.
“The world knows that hundreds of Olympic dreams have been stolen by the doping system in the country where I was born,” Mr. Stepanov wrote. “The evidence is clear, that the doping system in Russia has not yet been truly reformed.”
