'I think Caitlyn's decision to publicly come out as a transgender woman and live as Caitlyn Jenner displayed enormous courage and self-acceptance,' Maura Mandt, ESPY's co-executive producer, says.
- Jul 14, 2015
AceShowbiz - Maura Mandt, ESPY's co-executive producer, breaks her silence following numerous criticisms directed to ESPN for awarding Caitlyn Jenner the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at this year's ESPY. In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, she opened up about the controversial decision.
"I think Caitlyn's decision to publicly come out as a transgender woman and live as Caitlyn Jenner displayed enormous courage and self-acceptance," Maura said of ESPN's decision to award Caitlyn. "Bruce Jenner could have easily gone off into the sunset as this American hero and never have dealt with this publicly. Doing so took enormous courage. He was one of the greatest athletes of our time. That is what the Arthur Ashe Courage Award is about, somebody from the athletic community who has done something that transcends sport."
Maura argued that "one of the biggest platforms the Arthur Ashe Foundation has is educational." She thought by honoring Caitlyn was "the opportunity to educate people about this issue and hopefully change and possibly save some lives." The program's co-executive producer added, "I think that is why it was the right choice."
Regarding the selection process to the point that Caitlyn was selected, Maura said it was the same as it had been in previous years. She made it clear that there were no such thing as finalists for the Ashe Award. "There are no finalists or people that vote on it. That has never been the case." She said. "That was something that was completely not true, which I know was out in the media."
After the decision was made public last month, Maura is aware of some criticisms directed to ESPN, most notably from senior sportscaster Bob Costas. In an interview on "The Dan Patrick Show" last month, Bob argued that ESPN's decision tended to be popularity-driven. "Awarding the Arthur Ashe award to Caitlyn Jenner is just a crass exploitation play. It's a tabloid play," he said. Though he expressed his disapproval of ESPN''s decision, he made it clear that he didn't oppose Caitlyn.
Commenting on Bob's vehement criticism, Maura said that she was disappointed. "I have great respect for him but it was disappointing," she said. "I have watched Bob Costas my whole life, have great respect for Bob Costas. This whole story is all about that we get to choose who we are, what we say. That was what Arthur Ashe was about. So for Bob Costas who is greatly respected to make that statement with authority about this being a crass publicity play, people take that with authority, and that is dangerous."
While ESPY's producers were busy explaining their decision to award Caitlyn, the award recipient enjoyed her time replying some mails from people who want to know more about her and wrote it in a blog post. In a post titled "The Future Looks Bright" which was published on her personal blog on July 13, she opened up that she had felt she's a transgender since early young age. "I had all of my diversions - sports...this...that...married...family - but after 65 years, here I was right back with the same problems that I had when I was 10 years old and I had to finally do something about that," Caitlyn said. Replying a question asking her favorite part this far of becoming Caitlyn, she said, "Just being able to be myself."
