Adam Rippon goes on 'Ellen,' talks Sally Field's 'hutzpah'

March 1 (UPI) -- Team USA figure skater Adam Rippon was on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where he spoke about the Olympics, Sally Field, Vice President Mike Pence and more.

Rippon, 28, appeared on the show Thursday after competing in February's 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. He returned to the United States with a bronze medal, which he won in team figure skating. He was the first openly gay American athlete to qualify for a Winter Olympics.

He sported his medal over a Team USA shirt during the sit-down interview.

DeGeneres said that Rippon deserved to win a gold medal for his individual routine.

"You know, Ellen," Rippon said. "I know I'm my mother's favorite skater. And the only thing I regret about the Olympics, is that I feel like the judges didn't fully take that into consideration."

"But I've had so many gold medal moments. Like right now. I've been wanting to be on this show and meet you since I was born 28 years ago ..."

USA figure skating team members Nathan Chen, left, Adam Rippon, center, and Mirai Nagasu wave during the tribute ceremony for their bronze medal at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics on February 12 at the Gangneung Oval in Gangneung, South Korea. Photo by Richard Ellis/UPI

She went on to ask Rippon about his celebrity crushes and about Sally Field, who tried to set Rippon up with her son.

He said he reached out to Field's son, Samuel Greisman, and they are now friends.

"I said, 'I admire your mom so much because she has courage.' If there is anything I admire, it's some hutzpah and she definitely has it," Rippon told DeGeneres. "I told him don't be embarrassed about your mom. So we went back and forth. So I did finally reach out."

Rippon is partnering with GLAAD's Youth Engagement Program, raising money for LGBTQ youth programing. DeGeneres presented Rippon with a $10,000 check to GLAAD, courtesy of Shutterfly.

"I truly am so honored and excited to be working with my fam at @glaad. Learning about the kids in the campus ambassador program is so inspiring. They are MY heroes," Rippon tweeted Thursday afternoon.

He also spoke about a possible future conversation with Pence. The figure skater criticized the White House for choosing Pence to lead the 2018 U.S. Olympic delegation to South Korea during an interview in February with USA Today. He said at the time that he would not go out of his way to meet Pence, citing a 2000 statement he made on his congressional campaign website. The statement said that "resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior."

Pence issued a statement through press secretary Alyssa Farah to USA Today after Rippon told the news outlet that Pence believed that gay people are "sick."

"If it were before my event, I would absolutely not go out of my way to meet somebody who I felt has gone out of their way to not only show that they aren't a friend of a gay person but that they think that they're sick," Rippon told USA Today. "I wouldn't go out of my way to meet somebody like that.

Farah's emailed statement said Rippon's "allegation is totally false and has no basis in fact." Rippon responded again -- in a series of tweets -- to say he has "nothing to say" to Pence.

"I'm an openly gay man competing at the Olympics and somebody who thinks that gay people might be the societal collapse of our nation, I didn't feel that it was the right time," Rippon told DeGeneres.

"If I had the chance to have a call with him now, I have nothing to say to Mike Pence. That's not a conversation for me. I think going to the Olympics, it's given me a great platform to give a voice to people who feel like they don't have one. So if that call were to happen I'd say it's not for me, it's for those people who -- their lives have been affected and changed by legislation that he's pushed -- it's a chance for them to share their stories and their experiences. It's not for me."