Dual Citizen Gus Kenworthy Says It's "More Patriotic" to Ski for Britain's Olympic Team

Actor and skier Gus Kenworthy made headlines at the beginning of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games for a political message he posted on social media. The message in question was "F--k ICE," written in the snow, presumably with urine. Gus received angry messages for the post, but will not face consequences from his team or the International Olympic Committee, per ESPN.

Although he received backlash, Gus doubled down on his message. He pointed to U.S. citizens being killed in the streets and ICE officers "essentially acting with impunity because their identities are covered," in an Instagram video. Gus said that a person can be patriotic and still disagree with the current administration's policies.

He also said that competing for Team GB could actually be considered more patriotic than competing for Team USA. Here's what he meant.

Gus is a dual citizen of the United States and Britain and competed for Team USA in the past. He switched over to Great Britain in 2019, partially to honor his mom, who is British, and partially because it was less stressful to qualify.

He told People, "I've definitely gotten s--t where people are like, 'You're a traitor,' and I don't think of it that way."

He explained that he won a medal for the U.S. in 2014, and then, after competing for Great Britain's team, he wouldn't have been able to switch back even if he wanted to because of time constraints. He also explained that if he had competed for Team USA again, he'd be taking a spot away from one of his friends, saying that most of the world's top skiers are from the U.S.

"Me going for GB [Great Britain] ... I opened up a quota spot. I didn't take that spot from anybody. That spot wasn't a spot otherwise. And maybe that quota spot took away the very one of the spots at the bottom of the ranking, but that's someone that's competing at a lower level anyway," he told People. He added, "If anything, I almost feel like it's more patriotic I'm letting another American go."

In 2019, Gus talked to The Colorado Sun about the differences between the U.S. and Great Britain Olympic teams. At the time, he said that he didn't feel completely supported by the US team because of the way the trainings were scheduled and organized. Because he worked on different events, he was always having to choose between trainings and didn't have recovery time.

"One nice advantage going to Team GB is that I’m going to have a much more straight-shot approach at the games. I will go to whatever I have to go to, just like I would have for the U.S., but at the end of the day it won’t be me fighting with 20 others guys for four spots," Gus said.

Gus was born in Chelmsford, but has lived in the U.S. for most of his life. Gus's mom, Pip Kenworthy, inspired him to join the British Olympic team. "My mom is my No. 1 fan. She is obviously a huge supporter of me, but also my friend," he told People in 2022. He shared that Pip supported him when he came out as gay publicly.

Gus's father, Peter Kenworthy, is American. The family moved to Telluride, Colo., when Gus was a toddler, and Gus began skiing at the age of 3, per Instinct Magazine. Peter and Pip divorced when Gus was 5.