Is Ryan Sheckler Selling Out?

Is Sheckler a sell-out? Checkout an article I found about him the other day. Interesting.

While preparing for the Skate Park finals Ryan Sheckler took some time out to answer some questions regarding a recent ESPN interview where they made the claim that the young skater was "happy selling out".

Sheckler was understandably unhappy with the comment.

“They said something in the ESPN interview that I was comfortable with selling out which is completely not what I said.  It is not selling out.  I haven’t sold out.  People say what they want to say, but in my eyes I have taken my skateboard career and gone on a different path,” Sheckler said. “It might not be the same path as some of these core skateboarders that think that their path is the right way.  There is no right path in skateboarding.  I want to do something different.  I love this.  I love the fans.  My life is crazy as it is and this fits right in the puzzle piece.”

Asked about his MTV reality show Sheckler said: "My life changed a lot (after the debut of the TV show).  I didn’t really think it would change that much.  The core fans are still there, but I definitely have a new following of TV fans.  It is an uncontrollable monster.  It can go either good for you or bad for you and turn in a snap.  You have to make sure you keep everyone happy too, which is hard.  I am a skateboarder.  I have an extraordinary gift and that is what I love.”

“I have walked around and people would recognize me before that show.  Now, obviously, people are like ‘Look at Sheckler.  Look at Sheckler.  What a punk.’  There is a lot of jealousy.  There are so many jealous people now.  That is the biggest thing I’ve dealt with.  There are just haters.  More jealous people than I ever thought existed.  There are so many people that speak badly about me, but that is okay because they are still talking about me.  That is my plan, whether it is good or not good.  There are people that will say I am not cool, but other people correct them and say ‘No, I’ve met him.  He’s cool.’  It is funny to see.  It motivates me so much.  It just makes me want to skate.  All I want to do when I wake up is skate.  That has been the same thing since I was four years old.”