So, How Does Everyone Feel About Lance Now?
Well, that happened. Lance Armstrong sat down with Oprah Winfrey and admitted mostly everything, as one does when speaking with Oprah. But what does the great Court of Public Opinion (Twitter) have to say about all this?
.Well, that happened. Lance Armstrong sat down with Oprah Winfrey and admitted mostly everything, as one does when speaking with Oprah. But what does the great Court of Public Opinion (Twitter) have to say about all this?
We're going to break this down into two separate crowd sourced reactions: one for Armstrong, and one for Oprah. One for the interviewee and interviewer, respectively. (Hint: one came out of this with sparking reviews, and the other is named Lance Armstong.)
On Lance Armstrong:
Lance Armstrong brought shame to a sport that no one ever cared about and now nothing will ever be the same except for the not caring part.
— Dave Hill (@mrdavehill) January 18, 2013
Lance Armstrong is pretty dull for a drug kingpin.
— jasoncherkis (@jasoncherkis) January 18, 2013
Even doping deserves better than Lance Armstrong.
— Jen Doll (@thisisjendoll) January 18, 2013
This is what Lance thinks is OVER THE LINE. Not "whore"; not "bitch"; "FAT." Uh-uh, he would NEVER DO THAT TO SOMEONE HE'S RUINING.
— netw3rk (@netw3rk) January 18, 2013
Judging from my twitterfeeed, Lance Armstrong may have just lost the crowd.
— kady o'malley (@kady) January 18, 2013
Lance is the least sympathetic apologizer possible. I feel ZERO empathy with him.
— The Fix (@TheFix) January 18, 2013
Tonight I will admit that I don't care about Lance Armstrong.
— Anthony King (@theanthonyking) January 18, 2013
Lance still refusing to beat himself up and grovel. Just appalling.
— Joseph Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) January 18, 2013
Just say it, Lance. Say you did whatever it fucking took, and you didn't care who it hurt.
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) January 18, 2013
I'm no Lance Armstrong supporter, but I've never seen a PED-accused athlete sit for more PED-related questions than he did tonight.
— Will Leitch (@williamfleitch) January 18, 2013
Lance has slipped comfortably into this Semi-Contrition Comeback Kid role. Maybe it's cathartic. But, damn, Lance seems to be enjoying this.
— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) January 18, 2013
What a snivelling, lying, cheating little wretch @lancearmstrong revealed himself to be tonight. I hope he now just disappears.#LiveWrong
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 18, 2013
betsy andreu is on w/ cnn anderson. said she's furious w/ how lance armstrong is going about this. "What is going thru his mind?" she asked
— Kimberley A. Martin (@KMart_LI) January 18, 2013
Lance Armstrong is clearly the worst, but I think it's strange that we are all so sure what 'contrition' should look like
— Willa Paskin (@willapaskin) January 18, 2013
I feel like I need to take 10 showers after listening to Lance Armstrong. Striking interview. Had no idea he was that vile.
— Heidi N. Moore (@moorehn) January 18, 2013
No love for Lance, but chemical "performance enhancements" are not just ok but almost required in so many other contexts. So hypocritical.
— Dan Gillmor (@dangillmor) January 18, 2013
FYI, Lance Armstong actually just tried to rationalize attempts to destroy a woman's reputation by noting that he didn't call her fat.
— Philip Bump (@pbump) January 18, 2013
Lance is going to piss USADA off with these answers. Lifetime ban ain't going nowhere.
— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) January 18, 2013
The sociopath section:
Armstrong admitted to viewing his own behavior through the lens of a sociopath. "I was in the zone."
— david carr (@carr2n) January 18, 2013
Armstrong should look up sociopath in the dictionary.
— Anthony De Rosa (@AntDeRosa) January 18, 2013
“Ha, to be honest we sued so many people I don’t even remember.” - Lance on ruining a woman’s life for telling the truth. Pure sociopath.
— amaeryllis (@amaeryllis) January 18, 2013
Lance was lying. And yet he sued so many people that he can't actually remember who he sued. That's sociopathic.
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) January 18, 2013
In a funny way, he is revealing what he is. He is a sociopath. He is everything his enemies said he was.
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) January 18, 2013
And then there's this joker:
@bruce_arthur technically he’sactually a sociobikepath.
— Dave Snow (@zumalife) January 18, 2013
There were also these two Lance defenders. A word of caution, though: one is kidding, one isn't. See if you can figure out which is which!
Honestly I don't care that Lance doped. He gave people hope and that's more important then anything. So what if he lied. #livestrong
— Jack Osbourne (@MrJackO) January 18, 2013
You guys don't even know what it was like to root for the Giants when Barry was so beastmode. Go Lance. Go Steroids. This is America.
— willy (@willystaley) January 18, 2013
On Oprah:
Nicely done, @oprah
— Anthony De Rosa (@AntDeRosa) January 18, 2013
Oprah rules. She is REALLY good at this.Just a master interviewer.
— The Fix (@TheFix) January 18, 2013
Oprah teed Lance up for a full apology to the Andreus and Emma O'Reilly and he passed. Just passed.Amazing.
— Andrew Brandt (@adbrandt) January 18, 2013
Dunno if interview can solve the problems Armstrong is buried in, but Oprah added more luster to her crown as the queen of the confessional.
— david carr (@carr2n) January 18, 2013
Oprah/Armstrong 2016
— Callie Schweitzer (@cschweitz) January 18, 2013
Oprah is a pretty good news interviewer.
— Ravi Somaiya (@ravisomaiya) January 18, 2013
Oprah got him: Did Lance have implied rule on USPS team that cyclists dope or they're cut. Long pause, focus on no "direct" order. #epicfail
— Michael McCann (@McCannSportsLaw) January 18, 2013
This Oprah/Armstrong interview is Frosting/Nixon.
— Mobutu Sese Seko (@Mobute) January 18, 2013
@lady_barrettronI actually thought it delivered tonight. Oprah was firm and Lance was candid. But one night was enough for me.
— Pat Kiernan (@patkiernan) January 18, 2013
Yo this Oprah interview is dope.
— Joshua Topolsky (@joshuatopolsky) January 18, 2013
There were a lot of Oprah jokes leading into this, but she still knows how to conduct a really good interview.
— James Cybulski (@JamesCybulski) January 18, 2013
To @oprah Winfrey: Well done.
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) January 18, 2013
.@oprah is doing a remarkable job. Simple, direct questions.She has done her homework. And she's getting out of the way.
— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) January 18, 2013
This interview reaffirms @oprah as the greatest TV interviewer in the world. She's doing a brilliant job.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 18, 2013
Advantage: Oprah. Sorry, Lance.