NEW YORK, NY — Celebrated author Malcolm Gladwell has confessed that after dedicating 10,000 hours to studying the transgender phenomenon, he has concluded that transgenders aren’t real.
The revelation was dropped during a recent episode of The Real Science of Sport podcast, by the author of Outliers who popularised the 10,000-hour rule for mastering any skill.
“I dove in headfirst,” Gladwell told podcast host Ross Tucker. “I read every study, and attended every conference. After 10,000 hours, I can say with confidence: transgenders don’t exist.”
The confession refers to Gladwell’s much-criticised performance at the MIT conference, where he moderated a panel on the “path forward for the inclusion” of trans athletes in women’s sports. At the time, Gladwell claimed to be “objective in a dishonest way.”
“I was trying to be diplomatic,” Gladwell explained. “But after hitting my 10,000-hour mark, I realised diplomacy is overrated.”
Gladwell reportedly spent 3,000 hours reading peer-reviewed studies, 2,500 hours watching YouTube debates, and 1,800 hours arguing with strangers in X comment sections. “The remaining 2,700 hours were mostly me staring at my ceiling, wondering why I agreed to moderate that MIT panel,” he admitted.
At publishing time, Gladwell was reportedly embarking on his next 10,000-hour journey to determine whether Bigfoot is real, promising a 3-hour sit-down with Joe Rogan to break down his newly mastered skill.