When Adam Rippon heard that he would be speaking at the same event as Senator Jeff Flake, his first question was: “Where is the rally?”
“As soon as I heard that Jeff Flake was going to be speaking here at the Forbes #30under30, I immediately called my publicist and said ‘Is there a rally? We need to get involved,’ ” Rippon told PEOPLE.
The figure skater, 28, did just that, taking the steps of Boston’s City Hall on Monday morning outside the conference and giving a passionate speech that described Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as “unfit, unaware, and unqualified.”
“Simply put, we do not need two sexual predators on our Supreme Court,” Rippon told the crowd, which included Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. “It’s time to disqualify Brett Kavanaugh and to move on. Senator Flake, vote no!”
When asked later why it was so important to him to speak out publicly, Rippon said it’s all about taking hold of your opportunities. “I have a platform, and I can reach a lot of people. So I want to use it,” he said during his panel, titled “Owning Your Brand: Authenticity and the Fame Game,” alongside comedian Esther Povitsky.
Rippon clearly felt right at home on the steps of City Hall. When asked later, he said that a political career could be in his future.
“I’ve always thought maybe one day I would run for office,” he told PEOPLE. “I don’t know if I will, but I will always be involved in politics. It affects all of our lives, and it’s so important to be involved.”
After 20 years on the skating rink, Rippon said he’s eager to try new endeavors.
“I’m in a transitional point in my life. I can’t be a figure skater forever. I knew Korea was my last Olympics. I’ve been slowly transitioning out of just being a figure skater. I’ll always be an athlete, but I’m making sure I’m keeping it open so in my own mind I can plant those seeds and I can be someone else now,” he shared.
But that doesn’t mean it’s not difficult to start over.
“There’s a huge feeling of ‘what’s the point of all of this?’ I just did something for 20 years and now it’s gone. And I think that’s something I really need to sit down every day and say ‘it’s ok to not know.’ Because I’ve known what I was going to do every day for 20 years,” he said. “For the first time in my life, I don’t really know what’s next.”
Source: Read Full Article