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Charisa Bossinakis
Lance Armstrong threatens to quit Stars on Mars after his statements against trans athletes sparked controversy.
The former racing cyclist made his fellow contestants uncomfortable after revealing that he’d like to see transgender athletes compete in a division of their own.
The conversation arose while Armstrong spoke with professional wrestler Ronda Rousey, telling her of a recent guest appearance on a podcast, where he touched upon the issue.
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“I said, 'Listen one of my most key employees, they're transitioning,’” he began.
“I have no problem with that. I love it. Let's go.”
Oh, we feel a very big ‘but’ coming.
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“You want to transition? Let's do it," Armstrong said.
“You have your own category. We're going to have a whole new division. We'll celebrate you just like we celebrate everybody else. Let's go. What's unfair about that?”
Perhaps, people who take performance-enhancing drugs should have their own category. Food for thought.
“To me, I think we just have to care about if you other-ize people it's not good for their mental health,” interjected fellow contestant and singer Tinashe.
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Modern Family star Ariel Winter also entered the chat.
“You are ostracizing the people who don't fit in the categories,” she said.
Winter later said she was shocked that the former athlete entertained the conversation while on the show.
“I don't understand why you would ever bring this up in here,” Winter said.
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She added she wouldn’t be able to forget his comments while Armstrong later slammed the actor as a ‘tyrant’.
But a teaser for an upcoming episode shows the drama is far from over, as the 51 year old threatens to leave the Fox series.
"Ariel, let me make this really simple: I don't need the drama," Armstrong dramatically declared during a team meeting.
"I busted my a** for nine days, I'm gonna bust my a** on the 10th day, and I'm going to auto-select myself to leave."
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However, when The Real Housewife of Atlanta star Porsha Williams urges him to sleep on the decision, Armstrong maintains that he can’t cohabitate with ‘certain people’ for another day.
"I'm not living in this hab another day with certain people," he said while looking over at Winter.
Ah, your subtlety is sublime.
The new episode of Stars on Mars airs Monday at 8pm EST.