PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (Nexstar) — The man who wowed Americans Tuesday night with a near-perfect snowboarding run to bring home his third Gold Medal told the “Today” show he is a “changed person” following allegations of sexual misconduct in a 2016 lawsuit.
Shaun White spoke with Savannah Guthrie Wednesday morning saying, “I’ve grown as a person over the years.”
Details of the lawsuit surfaced on social media, alleging White sexually harassed a former drummer in his rock band. NBC News reported the suit claimed White failed to pay the drummer after he fired her.
The suit was settled in May, according to the Associated Press. Terms of the settlement were not made public.
White previously dismissed the allegations as “gossip,” something he apologized for during his interview on the Today Show Wednesday.
“I’m truly sorry that I chose the word gossip. It was a poor choice of words to describe such a sensitive subject in the world today and I’m just truly sorry. And I was so overwhelmed with just wanting to talk about how amazing today was and share my experience, but yeah,” White said. “I’ve grown as a person over the years and it’s amazing. I mean you’ve known me for a long time now. It’s amazing how life works, and twists and turns and lessons learned, so yeah every experience in my life I feel like it’s taught me a lesson and I definitely feel like I’m a much more changed person than I was when I was younger and yeah, I’m proud of who I am today.”
