Author Malcolm Gladwell said that he’s “ashamed” of being “cowed” into supporting trans athletes in women’s sports while hosting a sports conference in 2022.
Gladwell, 62, said in a podcast released Tuesday, that he was “objective in a dishonest way” during a 2022 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, The New York Post reported.
“I’m ashamed of my performance at that panel because I share your position 100 percent and I was cowed,” Gladwell told “The Real Science of Sport” host Ross Tucker, who was on the panel and argued against including trans athletes in women’s sports.
Tucker said that most of his statements during the panel were met with silence, while pro-trans panelists Dr. Joanna Harper and ESPN writer Katie Barnes received applause for their arguments.
“My suspicion is that 90 percent of the people in the audience were on your side but 5 percent of the audience was willing to admit it,” said Gladwell, who has been a staff writer for “The New Yorker” magazine since 1996.
“[T]he trans athlete on the panel, at one point they turn to you, Ross, and they said, ‘Ross, you have to let us win.’ And it was at this moment that I realized this position, this argument has gone to the furthest extreme,” he added.
“They’re not asking for a place at the table, they’re not asking to be treated with respect and dignity. What they’re asking is for no one to question their considerable physiological advantage they bring to the sport,” Gladwell said.
“I heard that and thought, ‘This is nuts,’ and yet I didn’t say anything.”
At the time of the panel, Gladwell said regarding former University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, “[S]he’s an elite swimmer, she’s breaking lots of records right now,” then asked whether Thomas could qualify for the Olympic team.
Gladwell had also said that Thomas’ participation in women’s sports was a “difficult case,” suggesting it was only being discussed by Fox News.
On Tuesday, both Gladwell and Tucker said that if the panel were held today, its outlook would be completely reversed.
Gladwell said that the “cultural winds have shifted” beyond just sports.
“Even the advocates are having to shift their feet and make a different claim,” he added.
