Figure Skater Adam Rippon Assures Everyone That His Butt Is Real

Some athletes have to prove that they don’t cheat or use performance enhancing drugs; others have to proclaim that their butts are, in fact, real.

Over the weekend, U.S. figure skater Adam Rippon, who was in Japan competing in the Grand Prix Final, tweeted out the following:

Figure skaters are known for their incredibly strong lower bodies—most of their movements on the ice are powered by their gluteal muscles. Hence the development of “skater’s butt.” In 2000, Michelle Kwan said that hers “sticks out like a bubble.”

Back in 2014, when I interviewed former pairs skater turned TV comedy writer Chris Schleicher, he talked about the challenge of finding pants that fit his overdeveloped derriere. “I was halfway praying that J-Lo would release a line of men’s pants,” he told me.

Here’s Rippon skating his butt off during his short program last month at Skate America.