Deadspin
We've always had some fun with "flamboyant" and "unconventional" men's figure skater Johnny Weir around here; during the Olympics, we found him one of the few high-profile athletes with legitimate personality. (Or "flair," if you will.)
When Weir gave his famous "the establishment can't handle me" speech, we thought he was overreaching a little bit. But a reader tells us that the U.S. figure skating "establishment" really might have some serious problems with Weir ... and is feeling its repercussions.
The new brochure and website for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, to be held next January in Spokane Washington, are out now, and there is quite a glaring admission. Although reigning Men's National Champion, a title he has held for the last three years, Johnny Weir is not mentioned or pictured anywhere on either entity. The website bears the stamp 'Sanctioned by U.S. Figure Skating" in the lower left corner; it looks like the United States Figure Skating Association is trying to send quite a message, to both the public and to Weir himself, apparently, by omitting him from advertising for the championships. Every other major skater is included: Kwan (who didn't compete at the Olympics, Worlds or the 2006 Nationals), Cohen, Meisner, Belbin & Agosto, and of course their fair-haired boy Evan Lysacek.
Word within skating circles is that the USFSA is hoping to replace Weir as mens representative for the sport with Lysacek, whom they deem more 'socially acceptable', regardless of the fact that he is nowhere near the artist or technician that Weir is. I can't think of another sport where authorities have this kind of power over the career of the athlete regardless of their talent and record.
Johnny Weir Has Had It Up To Here With Your "Rules" [Deadspin]
Comments
Is Christine Brennan writing for deadspin?
Brian Boitano is outraged.
How can you possibly be too gay for men's figure skating?
Judges' explanation: we give Lysacek extra points for being so heterosexual, his equipment clearly outlined in his sequined spandex jumpsuit while performing triple luxes (luxii?). And was that Whitney Houston or Celine Dion that originally composed the tune to which he performed? So manly! I am hoping my daughter, Gary, meets someone like him one day.
WTF??? Johnny Weir is gay?!?!
I think Frinklin said it perfectly. Too gay for men's figure skating?
reference spokane's own gonzaga university, now hear brokeback mountain chant at a game, on espn. big tymers in tha 509 are pullin strings on this one.
you really believe that Spokane is the home to any big tymers? This is the kind of place where Jon Stockton's dad lives.
If they ban gay males from figure skating, the sport will cease to exist.
Are they afraid of alienating their homophobic male fanbase?
I honestly made it about halfway through this post before I realized I was confusing Johnny Weir with Jonny Mosely. The sad thing is, I wasn't surprised to (mistakenly think that I) read that Mosely was gay.
Maybe if we just ignore the gays, they will go away!
I bet johnny weir would loved to be blackballed... but seriously folks, johnny's blackball is a more tasteful number with sequins.
The mind boggles. Too gay for figure skating ... That sentence is like an Escher painting. Look at it too long and your head starts to hurt.
"omission". It's a glaring "omission". I'm sick to death of these figure skating critics and their sloppy word selection. Why do they always get a free pass?
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