Ariel Winter pushed back against former cyclist Lance Armstrong’s stance on transgender athletes in sports during a new episode of Stars on Mars. While Lance, 51, detailed his suggestion to have trans athletes compete in a separate category, many other stars on the show called him out for his stance. While the moment wasn’t included in the show, figure skater and former Dancing With The Stars winner Adam Rippon, 33, said that the Modern Family actress, 25, called him out for his involvement in the doping scandal after the conversation.
Lance brought up the conversation about trans athletes during one segment on the show. While sitting in a common area, the former Tour de France winner recalled a podcast where he was asked about trans athletes in sports. “One of my most key employees, they’re transitioning. I have no problem with that. I love it. Let’s go,” he said. “You want to transition? Let’s do it. You have your own category. We’re going to have a whole new division. We’re going to celebrate you just like we celebrate everybody else. Let’s go. What’s unfair about it?”
Singer Tinashe explained why trans people would take issue with Lance’s suggestion to create a unique division for them. “To me, I think we just have to care about if you otherize people, it’s not good for their mental health,” she said, before explaining that otherizing is to “Exclude them from the same spaces and places that everyone else is.”
After Tinashe’s comment, Ariel reiterated what she said. “You’re ostracizing the people who don’t fit in the categories,” the actress explained. In a panel interview, Adam explained that the conversation changed the mood on the show. “Those comments here in this experiment have completely shifted the energy and have completely shifted the focus, and I will not ever forget them,” he said.
Throughout much of the conversation, Ariel looked visibly uncomfortable, and after the fact, Adam claimed that she called Lance out to his face over his steroid use, which caused many of his titles to be taken from him in an interview with The Daily Beast. “She marches right up to Lance and goes, ‘I forgot you cheated. I forgot you had seven titles and an Olympic gold medal stripped from you for being the head of a doping ring.’ And my jaw is on the ground—I cannot believe she is actually saying this,” he told the outlet.
Earlier in the interview, Adam showed that he fully disagreed with Lance’s stance, while also calling him out for the doping scandal. “I want trans athletes [present], I want people who are doing research into this [to be there], and people who are real proponents of seeing women’s sports succeed. I don’t need to hear what the greatest cheater in American history has to say about what he thinks is an unfair advantage,” he said.