Johnny Weir 'Not Family Friendly' Enough For Stars On Ice?

Johnny Weir represented the United States in the Vancouver Olympics last month, but that accomplishment is evidently not enough to earn him a spot on the Stars on Ice Tour. Nobody doubts the American figure skater's skill: in addition to competing at the Torino Olympics in 2006, he finished sixth at the 2010 Winter Olympics and is a three-time national champion.

Rather, it seems Weir may have been left off the team because he is "not family friendly." As GLAAD notes, such a claim "would be a clear jab at his perceived sexual orientation." The blog post continues:

Weir is extremely involved with his family. He is putting his younger brother through college, and supports the family financially because his father's disability prohibits him from working. Weir's dedication to his family can be clearly documented in the Sundance series, Be Good Johnny Weir, which follows him and his family and friends through his life and career as a championship skater.

Weir said that he will skip the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Torino to "rework his technique," but a source tells GLAAD that Stars on Ice "refused to allow" him to participate in its tour.

The Stars on Ice incident is not the first time in recent weeks that Weir has been forced to endure such criticism. During the Vancouver Olympics, Australian and Canadian commentators said what were widely considered inappropriate comments, which Weir responded to in a calm and mature fashion.

An online petition urges Stars on Ice to invite Weir to its tour.

Comments

[JackieSuzie]

12:51 AM on 03/19/2010

I just wanted to cry while watching Johnny on Joy Behar. He answered with such aplomb but I could see he felt rejected, I just love the way he skates & I think Smuckers has made a bad decision. I was planning on going to Stars on Ice when it came to Chicago but I guess I won't bother now. It's such a shame that these corporations are making decisions using their narrow, narrow minds.

[billshut]

05:57 PM on 03/15/2010

Someone told me Johnny Weir's middle name is Quentin. I can't imagine.

[tcny]

11:38 AM on 03/15/2010

Too gay for figure skating? Doesn't seem possible.

[Laplase]

05:24 PM on 03/15/2010

That's how gay he is.

[Daybreaq]

09:56 AM on 03/15/2010

You do realize the "not family friendly" claim comes from Johnny Weir. SOI denies they gave that reason. They state they had no room for him. So the reaction to that by some is "Yeah right!" Why is that so hard to believe? How is it even a "snub" let alone automatically homophobic? They have four men who are full time or are appearing in most of the shows. Three Pairs, Two Dance, and Seven Ladies (Only three are full time. The other Ladies are part-tme.) One of the men is a World Champion and has been with the show six years. Another has similar achievements to Johnny but has been with the tour four years. Should they have fired either of these two to hire Johnny? One man has only been with the show one year ... oh but he's also a World Champion and yeah Olympic Gold medalist? Yeah, they should have fired Evan Lysacek and hired Johnny; they don't get along after all. Or what about their new hire? Maybe they just shouldn't have hired Jeremy Abbott because he fell in the Olympics. The fact that Jeremy's the current National Champion shouldn't matter. Johnny won the title four years ago it doesn't matter he came in third this year. Wouldn't it have been a bigger snub towards Jeremy, the CURRENT title holder, if they hired a past title holder over him just because Johnny is better skilled at drawing publicity towards himself?

[ChrisDWard]

06:59 AM on 03/15/2010

Hmmm. Well, if anyone has seen Johnny's cable reality show you'd see that it's not exactly "wholesome" family fare. I don't have anything against gays but I don't think I'd let my little kids watch. He's just too risky for SOI given the negative attention he's already attracted and this ice show is squeaky clean. There are gays in figure skating to be sure, but there isn't much, if any, controversy over them as far as I know and I've been following the sport for years and years.

[kareneliza]

12:28 PM on 03/15/2010

Yes but his tv show is on at 10:30 at night, it is obviously not meant to be a children's show. Even at that, there's no sex, no drugs, no drinking apart from one reference to his having drank the night before, in which he says that it is "very, very unusual for me to drink more than one glass of champagne." There's occasional swearing, not exactly a rarity for a cable show that comes on at night, and also he walks around his own house in his underwear sometimes, but neither of those things is going to be an issue during a skating performance. And those scenes are more than balanced out by the main gist of the show, ie the many scenes of him working hard, training, persevering through setbacks, and spending time with his family. So I can't see that the show is enough of a problem to justify them leaving him off the tour - unless of course their problem is that he comes across as gay.

[kynycmbp]

08:36 PM on 03/14/2010

It's their loss. I think Johnny is awesome.

[letuckerchicago]

05:09 PM on 03/14/2010

They are nuts. He is a huge draw. Who said prejudice was rational?

[jajenkins]

02:39 PM on 03/14/2010

I'd never really paid attention to Johnny Weir until I read an interview with him last month.

He was asked about Plushenko and Lysacek (in a clear attempt to get him to criticize them). He responded by talking about how much he admired them.

He was asked about judging and said that he knew it would be fair.

He was asked about Lambiel's weird rustic overall costume and called it very "fashion-forward".

He was asked about rumours of his homosexuality and replied "I never discuss my sex-life - or my moisturizer".

I became a huge fan! I tuned into his FD and became an even bigger fan. The crown of roses after his beautiful performance only cemented by admiration. In a sport of rather dull and back-stabbing personalities I think he really shines as a friendly and tactful original. The crowd in Vancouver really loved him. If they took him on I'd be sure to buy a ticket - and I know plenty of other people would too.

[anothervoice]

10:29 AM on 03/14/2010

You would think a brand like "Smuckers" wouldn't exclude anybody from the program - They're as American as apple pie.

Mother smuckers.

[Deli]

01:06 PM on 03/16/2010

Clever. Fanned.

[MarciL]

10:14 AM on 03/14/2010

The only reason I was taking my family to Stars on Ice was to see Johnny Weir.

We won't go now.

Yes, they have the right to not hire him.

And I have the right not to spend my money on their tickets or on Smuckers products, which sponsors their show.

Billy Bush, on his radio show said SOI ticket sales are lagging. I can see why.

[PumaJ]

08:22 PM on 03/13/2010

An example of Johnny Weir skating with other skaters. How is something like this not "family friendly"? Exact;y whose family is SOI talking about anyway? My grandkids love Johnny Weir :-) They think he is totally cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIhB-My2_KE&NR=1

[WilliamL]

06:39 PM on 03/13/2010

He is gross.

[revealinganswers]

07:07 PM on 03/13/2010

true

[OnTheCusp]

03:48 PM on 03/14/2010

He is beautiful.

[jajenkins]

12:32 AM on 03/16/2010

He is beautiful actually. His face is simply beautiful.

[meede]

06:09 PM on 03/13/2010

I laugh. Most commenting have probably never watched skating before. Have never heard of him before. Actually know little about him except what is written here. Would never go to a SOI show.

[johnny g locker]

04:11 PM on 03/13/2010

Stars on Ice has hired gay men for decades. If they didn't, they wouldn't have shows.

This is about Johnny being Johnny and they don't want that.

This is not a gay issue.

[amber15]

05:18 PM on 03/13/2010

I agree. This guy has willing stated that he is anti animal welfare, doesn't care about how animals are treated and has vowed to write a tell all book about the gossip in skating. So who would want that kind of anti human decency values????

this one is a no-brainer.

[jajenkins]

02:43 PM on 03/14/2010

You are labouring under a misapprehension.

Weir did not say that he didn't support animal rights. He merely commented that animal-welfare people seem to be more concerned with a little bit of fox-fur on a costume than on massive human suffering all over the world.

He also pointed out that all skaters "wear" animals - on their feet.

[garystartswithg]

07:00 PM on 03/13/2010

johnny might learn how to pick his fights the hard way. they can easily turn this into the dead animals sewn on his onesies, laughing off punking the media so he could stay with the girls in the olympic village, dirty laundry books, et al. its very naive to think it isn't about him being gay -- but he has given them a whole aresenal of excuses.

[Paulied]

04:04 PM on 03/13/2010

SOI is now claiming that Johnny Weir's exclusion is not because he isn't "family friendly" but because they don't have enough room for him in the lineup. What complete BS! Johnny Weir is the biggest thing to happen to figure skating since Tonya Harding had Nancy Kerrigan whacked in the knee. Seriously, if the average American could name a single other male figure skating stars not named Weir, Boitano or Hamilton, I'd be very surprised. Boycott all Smucker's brands!!!!

[meede]

04:45 PM on 03/13/2010

Biggest thing to happen to skating?? Don't think so.
You may think it's the biggest thing because the media fed fuel to it. It truly isn't.
Weir can go back and play his reality show now.

[amber15]

05:19 PM on 03/13/2010

FAIL!

hes the worst thing for skating right now.

[kynycmbp]

08:43 PM on 03/14/2010

Why?

He skates very well and he has an engaging personality.

I especially love that he is so completely comfortable in his own skin.

He's a non-conformist and he embraces being different.

What is so wrong with him? He just a world-class skater who has a lot of fans. He's flamboyant, but, come on, this is figure skating, not rugby. There is a certain allowance for artistic flamboyance.