GB’s Kenworthy receives death threats for anti-ICE post

Team GB skier Gus Kenworthy says he has received death threats after posting a graphic message about the United States’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement organisation – commonly known as ICE.

Kenworthy shared the image – in which ‘ICE’ was preceded by an expletive – on Instagram a week before he was due to compete at the Winter Olympics in Italy.

The 34-year-old was born in Chelmsford but grew up in America and won silver in the ski slopestyle at the Sochi 2014 Games, before switching allegiance to Team GB in 2019.

In a new post on Instagram, Kenworthy said there had been a lot of “encouraging” support but that he has also received death threats.

“The other day I posted a photo with my thoughts on ICE and that photo has since gone everywhere – and I’ve gotten a tonne of messages and most of them honestly have been supportive and encouraging,” Kenworthy said in a video.

“But a lot of the messages have been awful, 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.”

Kenworthy will feature in the men’s snowboard halfpipe event, with qualifying beginning on 19 February in Livigno, Italy.

Team USA skiers Chris Lillis and Hunter Hess have also spoken out at the Games about the actions of ICE and ongoing tensions in the US.

Lillis said he was “heartbroken” and wants to country to “respect everybody’s rights”, while treating all citizens with “love and respect”.

Asked what it means to represent the USA, Hess said: “It’s a little hard. There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren’t.

“Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the US.”

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said: “I’m not going to add to the discourse.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) and IOC said Kenworthy would not be punished for his initial post on Instagram when he appeared to urinate the ICE-related message into the snow.

BOA chief Dame Katherine Grainger said he had the right to express himself.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is using an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system to monitor social media for abusive posts directed at athletes at the Winter Games.

The system was first deployed at the 2022 Paris Olympics and flagged 2.4 million posts from 20,000 social media accounts in more than 35 languages.

“Maybe that’s the price you pay for speaking up and using your platform but I think it’s important to say what you feel and stand up for justice,” Kenworthy said.

“You can love the US and be proud to be an American and still think it can be better and that the country can improve.”

Chief Games operations officer Andrea Francisi said they are not planning to bring in “additional measures” of security around athletes.

“We attach a lot of attention to all these events, but there are not situations which require us to take additional measures,” Francisi said.

“Things are stable, we do not need additional measures. There is a fantastic, calm atmosphere in the villages, we do not need a plan here.”

The US said it would send ICE agents to the Games to help support American security operations, prompting anger from the Italian foreign office and citizens.