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In early February 2026, a rumor spread online that freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy urinated a message to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement onto snow — "f*** ICE" — ahead of his appearance in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The claim circulated on X, Reddit, Threads and Facebook.
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It's true that Kenworthy, who switched from Team USA to Team Great Britain in 2019, posted a picture on Instagram that appeared to show the words "f*** ICE" written in yellow liquid — presumably urine — in the snow (his version was not censored). However, it was unclear what method Kenworthy used to create the image, as he could have used artificial intelligence, digital editing, a liquid that was not urine or urine that was not his.
Given the amount of undetermined information, we have not rated this claim.
GB Snowsport, which manages Britain's Olympic skiers and snowboarders, said in an email that Kenworthy "won't be issuing any comment to media on this story, and he won't be undertaking Olympic media activities until much closer to his competition date." The BBC reported that Kenworthy wouldn't receive any punishment for the message.
Kenworthy's Instagram post
On Feb. 4, 2026, Kenworthy posted the image in question on Instagram, alongside a caption that urged people to call their senators to "speak up against ICE" during lawmakers' efforts to negotiate a funding package for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and Customs and Border Protection. Democrats have demanded more reforms to immigration enforcement operations after two fatal January shootings in Minneapolis at the hands of federal agents.
A sample script for calls that Kenworthy included asked senators "to refuse to support any final Department of Homeland Security funding agreement that fails to meaningfully rein in ICE and Border Patrol," such as by "establishing clear limits on warrantless arrests, profiling, and enforcement at sensitive locations like schools and hospitals."
Here's the full post (archived):
gus kenworthy on Instagram: "You can call your Senator at (202) 224-3121 to speak up against ICE and put pressure on them during the current DHS funding negotiations. Here’s a sample script: Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a constituent from [Yo
103K likes, 1,193 comments - guskenworthy on February 4, 2026: "You can call your Senator at (202) 224-3121 to speak up against ICE and put pressure on them during the current DHS funding negotiations. Here’s a sample script: Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a constituent from [Your City...
www.instagram.com
Two days later, Kenworthy posted on Instagram again with this caption (archived):
However, he did not explicitly state whether he used actual urine, and it's possible he meant that his message to ICE was just supposed to resemble urine.
Kenworthy also posted a video on Feb. 8 referencing the image and saying that he received death threats because of his message to ICE.
Unclear how Kenworthy made the image
Many people online speculated that Kenworthy may have generated the image using artificial intelligence, while others suggested that he may have first used his finger to write in the snow, then urinated on top of the snow, thus allowing the urine to pool in the written words. Snopes reached out to a few urologists to ask what they thought about social media users' theories and we will update this story if we hear back.
Kenworthy has not publicly addressed these rumors, and it was not immediately clear whether there was any truth to them. Nothing in the image, aside from the suspiciously neat penmanship, pointed to the use of AI.
AI-image detection tools, which are not foolproof, returned mixed results. ZeroGPT, for example, believed someone likely used digital editing to create the picture, whereas Hive Moderation gave the image only a 6.4% likelihood of being AI-generated. Google's AI assistant, Gemini, determined that the image did not have a SynthID watermark, which is embedded into images generated using Google's AI.
Several indicators suggested the image was at least partly real, including the realistic lighting and texture of the snow. The skis shown in the picture also had a Monster Energy logo on them. The energy drink company's website indicates that Kenworthy, as of this writing, has a sponsorship with Monster Energy. Monster Energy did not immediately return an inquiry about whether they provided Kenworthy with the skis depicted.
Sources:
@guskenworthy. "Gus Kenworthy on Instagram: 'Just My Two Cents.'" Instagram, 8 Feb. 2026, www.instagram.com/p/DUhS7ODDpvV/?hl=en. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
---. "Gus Kenworthy on Instagram: 'My Last Post Was Pee so It Only Felt Appropriate to Follow It up with a Lil' Dump… of Photos from January. Yes, I'm a Child. .'" Instagram, 5 Feb. 2026, www.instagram.com/p/DUZa_YkCJKV/?hl=en&img_index=1. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
---. "Gus Kenworthy on Instagram: "You Can Call Your Senator at (202) 224-3121 to Speak up against ICE and Put Pressure on Them during the Current DHS Funding Negotiations. Here's a Sample Script: Hi, My Name Is [Your Name], and I'm a Constituent from [Your City, State]. I'm Calling to Urge Senator [Name] to Refuse to Support Any Final Department of Homeland Security Funding Agreement That Fails to Meaningfully Rein in ICE and Border Patrol. Innocent People Have Been Murdered, and Enough Is Enough. We Can't Wait around While ICE Continues to Operate with Unchecked Power in Our Communities. Senators Still Have Leverage Right Now, and Senator [Name] Must Use It to Demand Real Guardrails and Accountability — Including Getting ICE and CBP out of Our Communities, Ending Blank-Check Funding for Brutality, and Establishing Clear Limits on Warrantl…." Instagram, 4 Feb. 2026, www.instagram.com/guskenworthy/p/DUWAmjeDq2L/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
"Gemini." Gemini, gemini.google.com/app/fc132bfe31675024. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
"Gus Kenworthy." Monster Energy, www.monsterenergy.com/en-us/ski/gus-kenworthy/.
"Hive Moderation." Hivemoderation.com, hivemoderation.com/ai-generated-content-detection.
"TRANSCRIPT: At Press Conference Following Passage of Appropriations Package, Leader Schumer Calls on Senate Republicans to Work with Democrats to Rein in ICE." Senate.gov, The Senate Democratic Caucus, 30 Jan. 2026, www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/transcript-at-press-conference-following-passage-of-appropriations-package-leader-schumer-calls-on-senate-republicans-to-work-with-democrats-to-rein-in-ice. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
ZeroGPT. "ZeroGPT - Chat GPT, Open AI and AI Text Detector Free Tool." Www.zerogpt.com, www.zerogpt.com/.
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