Michael Phelps Defends Himself on Today

Michael Phelps sat down with Matt Lauer on the Today Show this morning to discuss what Matt called the “now infamous” photo of Mikey smoking pot.

The gravity Lauer gave the incident was almost disturbing, asking questions like:

“Did you start to think how damaging this was to you and your career?”

“You’d just come off this remarkable achievement that you’d worked your whole swimming career for, did it cross your mind that image of me on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the eight gold medals will be the second image people see of me?”

And, “What would you say to the ten-year-old boy or girl who has your poster up in their room and who is a little shaken by what’s happened over the last couple of months?”

Oh please, Matt. You know you hit the doja!

Watching Mikey’s interview was really upsetting because here’s a guy who achieved seemingly inhuman feats who’s now being vilified for partying while Chris Brown almost kills Rihanna, and he emerges from the incident with hardly a scratch on him.

The inequality of their backlash makes us feel ill.

—Sasha Perl-Raver