ABC News(PYEONGCHANG, South Korea) — And the jabs at Vice President Mike Pence keep coming.
U.S. Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy took aim at Mike Pence again Thursday night, joking that he’s unable to shake the vice president’s hand because of a thumb injury.
“Broke my thumb yesterday in practice,” Kenworthy tweeted, along with an X-ray of his thumb. “It won’t stop me from competing (obvi) but it does prevent me from shaking Pence’s hand so… Silver linings! Will be giving my teammates (and literally everyone else) an enthusiastic ‘thumbs up!’ of encouragement the rest of the trip.”
A Twitter user blasted Kenworthy, tweeting at him, “Your obsession with Pence is creepy.”
But Kenworthy, unlike fellow openly gay U.S. Olympian Adam Rippon, hasn’t publicly criticized Pence too much.
“This was literally my first tweet ever that mentioned him,” Kenworthy shot back in a tweet.
While Kenworthy, 26, may not have previously taken to Twitter to express disdain for Pence, he did tell Ellen DeGeneres during an appearance earlier this month on her show that “to have someone leading the delegation that’s directly attacked the LGBT community” seems like a “bad fit.”
“I feel like the Olympics is all about inclusion and people coming together, and it seems like it’s not really doing that,” he said.
And during an interview with USA Today last month, Rippon said of Pence’s involvement with the Olympics, “You mean Mike Pence, the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy?” Rippon said. “I’m not buying it.”
Kenworthy and Rippon’s distaste for the vice president stems over the former Indiana governor’s record on same-sex marriage, LGBT rights in the workplace and the widespread notion that he once supported so-called gay conversion therapy.
In a 2000 statement on his congressional campaign website, Pence said, “Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.” During the 2016 election campaign, however, Pence’s spokesman said he does not support the concept.
Kenworthy and Rippon are the first openly gay U.S. Winter Olympians to compete in the games.
Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.