Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell has publicly expressed regret over his handling of a contentious 2022 sports conference panel about trans-identifying athletes competing in women’s sports.
The 62-year-old “Outliers” author made the admission during a Tuesday podcast appearance on “The Real Science of Sport” with host Ross Tucker.
Gladwell described feeling “ashamed” of his performance at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, which focused on the “path forward for the inclusion” of so-called trans athletes in women’s sports.
The renowned author confessed he was “cowed” by public pressure during the high-profile event.
“I’m ashamed of my performance at that panel because I share your position 100 percent and I was cowed,” Gladwell told Tucker during the podcast interview.
Tucker had appeared on the same panel and argued against transgender inclusion in women’s sports at the conference.
Gladwell acknowledged that he was “objective in a dishonest way” during the 2022 discussion.
The conference featured a stark contrast in audience reactions to different panelists’ arguments.
Tucker noted that his statements were typically met with silence from the audience.
Meanwhile, pro-transgender panelists Dr. Joanna Harper and ESPN writer Katie Barnes received enthusiastic applause for their positions.
Gladwell estimated that audience sentiment may not have