After being stripped of seven Tour de France title wins for doping, Lance Armstrong wants to discuss whether or not it's fair for transgender athletes to compete.
The disgraced athlete recently announced the launch of a podcast called The Forward, in which he will "dive into" the transgender athlete debate with an "open mind." Armstrong promoted the series with a clip from a discussion with conservative former-athlete turned failed California Governor candidate Caitlyn Jenner, writing that he is not "afraid to be fired, ashamed or canceled.”
“Have we really come to a time and place where spirited debate is not only frowned upon, but feared? Where people’s greatest concern is being fired, shamed or cancelled?" he said. "As someone all too familiar with this phenomenon, I feel I'm uniquely positioned to have these conversations.”
Many were quick to point out that Armstrong was never "fired" for being controversial, but was rather discredited after it was revealed that he had been cheating for over a decade. Several also pointed out that neither Armstrong nor Jenner had taken an interest in women's sports until transgender women entered the conversation.
Even a Twitter community fact-checking note has pointed out: "Lance Armstrong was not 'cancelled.' Armstrong was the most dominant and successful professional cyclist in history, until 2013 when he was found to have been doping and was stripped of his titles and awards. Armstrong himself later admitted to cheating for over a decade."
Shortly after being stripped of his titles, Armstrong admitted to doping in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, agreeing that it was not "humanly possible to win the Tour De France without doping, seven times in a row."
As one Twitter user pointed out, Armstrong instead seems to be "uniquely situated to sit this one out — as the biggest cycling cheater of all time."
