Kelly Slater is as close to mainstream as they get in surfing.  Arguably the greatest ambassador the sport of surfing could ever have, Slater is regularly featured in mass publications and interviewed by some of the media’s biggest personalities.  While in California for the US Open of Surfing, Slater sat down with sports broadcaster Jim Rome for a candid interview covering everything from his career surfing at the event to the egregious error by the ASP last year that resulted in Slater being crowned the World Champion not once but twice.  And that’s where Slater revealed that the ASP tried to cover up their scoring error at the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco resulting in Slater having to go back out and try to win the World Title again.

When asked whether he considered not saying anything after finding out that the ASP miscalculated the overall points on the year and just accepted being the World Champion, Slater said, “The embarrassing part probably, I don’t know if I should be honest about this, was I was asked not to say anything.”  When Rome asked Slater who made that request, Slater said, “By the ASP.  And they said, ‘If you win your next heat we’ll deal with it.’  I don’t know, I think it was just embarrassing.  And I think they wanted to figure out, ‘How are we going to deliver this information?’  There was probably part of them that wanted to let it slide under the carpet if I won my next heat.”

The complete interview is below.  It’s fascinating particularly given how honorable of an approach Slater took to the controversial situation, and further exploits the lack of organization and integrity by the ASP that resulted in the resignation of then CEO Brodie Carr with no current CEO in place while events are marred by controversy and loss of sponsorships.