The first thing Gus Kenworthy noticed wasn't the volume of messages. It was the language.
Threats. Slurs. Strangers hoping out loud that he would 'blow my knee or break my neck' on live television at the Winter Olympics.
All of it triggered by a single image: the British-American freestyle skier appearing to urinate the words 'fuck ICE' into the snow.
In a sport where controversy usually means a judging row or a disputed trick, Kenworthy has stumbled into something far darker — the toxic intersection of politics, social media and Olympic celebrity.
Kenworthy, 34, will compete for Team GB in Livigno next week, his second Games in British colours after switching allegiance from the United States in 2019. He won silver for Team USA in ski slopestyle at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and has lived in America for most of his life. That dual identity now sits at the heart of a storm he clearly knew might come, but perhaps not with this intensity.
Last week, anInstagramstory apparently showed Kenworthy writing 'fuck ICE' in the snow with urine — a crude, unambiguous swipe at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, whose tactics have long been condemned by rights groups. The clip, predictably, went viral.
The reaction was split. Many praised him; others decided that an athlete criticising a powerful US agency was tantamount to treachery. And some went further still.
In a fresh Instagram video posted on Sunday night, Kenworthy revealed the scale and tone of the backlash.
'People telling me to kill myself, threatening me, wishing they'll get to see me blow my knee or break my neck during my event, calling me slurs ... it's insane,' he said.
It's hard to overstate how chilling that sounds coming from one of the most recognisable faces in winter sports — and one of Team GB's most high-profile Olympians. These are not grumpy comments under a news story; they are direct, targeted messages to a named athlete days before he hurls himself down an Olympic course.
Source: International Business Times UK
