Johnny Weir Rejected For Stars On Ice: Is it Discrimination?
Filed Under: Television
Mar 14, 2010 | Comments 31
According to thedailybeast.com 2-time Olympian and 3-time US National Champion Johnny Weir claims that TV show “Stars on Ice” are discriminating against him due to his perceived sexuality. Reports say that Johnny has the backing of GLAAD, apparently a source from one of the sponsors of the Stars on Ice Tour said he was rejected from the lineup because they claim he is not “family friendly” enough.
In a statement from Stars on Ice, they say that the claims are “simply not accurate” and continued by saying that sexual orientation and gender identity has “never been” a consideration for cast members.
It’s currently unclear whether Johnny had any interest at all in appearing on the show, because he apparently announced that he was going to take a break from skating after the 2010 Vancouver games.
It has been claimed that Johnny is thinking of staging his own “crazy, over-the-top fantasy show” at the same time as the Stars on Ice Tour. As of yet Johnny Weir has not publicly announced his sexual orientation.
What do you make of all this? Do you think that Johnny should have been in the line up? Let us know your thoughts in the comments box below. You can read more here and also here
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Johnny skipped competing at Worlds, but he has not taken a break from skating completely. He is scheduled to do a show in Illinois on April 1st and will do several shows in Europe with Evgeni Plushenko.
As for Stars on Ice, their claim that they had no room for him is a little dubious as they announced another skater in the lineup just yesterday, and even now their website claims that there will be 'more to be announced.' A couple of years ago Johnny won a poll on their website asking what skater people most wanted to see. They took the poll down. They have never invited him to perform, even when he was the reigning 3 time US National Champion. He's one of the most popular skaters in the world. I can't think of any reason they wouldn't want him to bring fans to their shows, which I hear are dwindling in popularity, other than blatant discrimination.
I think its absurd that companies cant hire who and what they want. If someone is a flaming homosexual (i'm not saying that Wier is or isnt) B/C THEY KNOW THAT HOMOSEXUALITY GOES AGAINST THE BIBLE, THEN ITS THEIR RIGHT TO NOT HAVE THAT PERSON ASSOCIATED W/THEIR BUSINESS. Just like if a business owner doesn't want a tattoo-ed freak show representing his/her business, then they should be able to say, "i'm not hiring U b/c U dont represent the image my business has."
Of course they have that "right". No one is legally forcing them to do so.
However, if said company is being screaming bigots, we are ALSO free to point that out.
The "image" this business has is that of closeminded homopobes.
If that's the image they wanted… they got it.
And if a company doesn't want to hire someone who has been divorced because that goes against the bible? Or if they don't want to hire someone who's uncircumcised because that goes against the bible? Or, for that matter, someone who's of the "wrong" religion, skin color, or gender?
This isn't a theocracy. Simply because there's some asinine two-thousand year-old rule in some book that a business owner happens to read, be it the Koran, the Torah, the Bible, or the Bhagavad Gita, it doesn't justify bigotry in any form.
We need answers from Smucker's & Starts on Ice. Please help by signing this petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/online/34546.html
Oh please, "family friendly"? Like the Russian Jerk was "family friendly"! Johnny is a wonderful skater. A LOT of male skaters are gay but deny it (like Brian Botono).
Great skating is wonderful to watch, no one who enjoys the art of skating cares who they hug off the ice. Let him skate.
Although I am not in favor of homosexuality, I think Johnny Weir has earned the right to skate with the other champions and when I watch him skate I don't see Johnny the gay guy, I see Johnny the professional ice skater. Shame on them.
No doubt that Johnny Weir should be included. He is the best that there is. Unlike the snooze-fest Evan Lysocek…booorrrrinnnnggg!!
This is CRAZY, this is descrimination. Why has the world of entertainment not stepped forward and said so. Johnny Weir is the best skater I have ever watched. He should have received Gold in the Olympics, the skater from the United States who won, he was good, but Weir was GREAT!!!! Please someone step up to the plate and protest this injustice.
First, Stars On Ice is not a television show. it is a tour group of successful figure skaters. They have been limited in the amount of shows they can hold in recent years, due to less funding, higher cost to travel, etc. They cannot have every skater ever born be on the tour. Very few skaters cross over from the U.S. Stars On Ice and the Canadian Stars On Ice for this reason. Johnny Weir has many commitments, perhaps they did not have time to work around them when they have already had to deal with Lysacek's commitment to the U.S. Dancing With the Stars, The Tour dates and lineup were already set up months ago, if he expected to headline just because he didn't get the placement at the Olympics he wanted, he was dreaming.____Perhaps you should do more research before you professionally post something, instead of just hearsay.
Concerned guest–maybe YOU should have done some research before you wrote your BS post. You don't know WTF you are talking about. Maybe you should have read some of the many articles and posts that are available to you.
Fed Up,
I cannot speak for Concerned Guest, but I HAVE read many articles, and as a professional and as a skater, it is painstakingly obvious that the writer of this 'journalistic article' did not do research. The problem with many young journalists today is that they only read twitter blogs instead of looking up the facts. Journalism requires research and professional integrity, reader comments do not as they are a profession. Perhaps you should learn the difference.
I highly doubt you have the facts from Stars On Ice, and I also doubt you personally have talked to anyone on the tour. I doubt the writer has as well. So, perhaps it is premature to criticize someone when you cannot back up your claim. You have not shown facts to contradict Concerned Guest's statement, so in the end, you look like the child does not know what you are talking about.
They replaced Evan Lysacek on certain dates because of his commitment to Dancing With The Stars. Do you really think Johnny Weir wished to only be a 'replacement' instead of a headliner? I do not.
Maybe it had less to do with his unannounced sexual orientation and more to do with his "Rocky Horror Picture Show" outfit. He can wear a fig leaf for all I care, but if the majority of ticket purchasers are families I can see SOI's problem.
Johnney Weir is a wonderful skater and my favorite of the men to watch. I am very disappointed that he was rejected by Stars on Ice. But I think it is because of some of the controversial things he has said during interviews, not his perceived sexual orientation. However, he did not deserve the gold or silver medals – maybe the bronze – at the Olympics. The Russian skater, Yefgeny (I can't spell his name) is a skating god, but the outcome was accurate – he deserved the silver. Even Lysacek deserved the Gold. Thank goodness they changed the judging procedure, although it has taken away some of the enjoyment of the performances. They have to put so much "technical" moves into their programs to get points that it's hard for them to do the artistic presentation justice. Johnny's was the more enjoyable because his program was better artistically. It was fabulous. But it was not better technically. This is why I enjoy exhibition skating more than competition. And Johnny is my favorite, along with Sasha Cohen.
They are just a bunch of homophobic jerks if you ask me! My 9 yr old niece loves JOhnny and is a huge fan! So i dont see how he isn't "family friendly" but whatever. They are just homophobic.
I liked the fact that his costumes, which he designed , were a visual interpretation of the music and storyline behind the music that he skated to. I think that takes more work to research and interpret musical storylines and portray them, which is what is entertaining about ice skating,not just the athletics behind it as to who can do a quadruple turn, etc. Discrimination takes place in many forms and it is shameful that it occurs so that people who are really talented aren't participating fully in life. I went through something similar in high school in track and field, only it was due to my race, not due to my sexual orientation and I never turned out for track again after the year that it happened, even though I held the record for the 220 yard dash for girls for my school for years,got 3rd in same at the State Track Meet and our 880 relay team got fifth in the nation for our age group at Jr. Olympics. Please , we are in modern society , and it is illegal to discriminate against anyone in employment based on their "perceived" orientation, let alone real orientation. Shame on Stars on Ice for being backward!!.
There is blatant discrimination. Stars on Ice has never invited Johnny Weir to perform, not when he was three-time National Champion, nor when he tied with Evan Lysacek in scores for National Champion in 2008, nor when he was winner of Skating Magazine Readers Choice Skater of the Year Award in 2008. Plus, Johnny has almost 48,000 twitter followers, and more new fans every week drawn by his reality TV show series Be Good Johnny Weir on the Sundance Channel.
http://www.usfsa.org/Story.asp?id=41669 Johnny won the 2008 World Bronze Medal, too, and was the first male to win the Skating Magazine Reader’s Choice Award since 2000.
As a business owner, I realize there may be many reasons that they are not hiring Mr. Weir. I am sure they have hired MANY gay stars. After all, many male skaters are gay. This is not a government company. If they want to deny empoloyment, they should be able to. They know what they are looking for. This is just another way for GLAAD to make a mountain out of a "gay skater".
i'm glad they are reporting about this – there is no excuse for Star on Ice to NEVER have invited Johnny to skate EVER – he's been on the world stage for 6-7 years! He's a 3 time national champion. That is one more than Jeremy Abbott, who is included on the tour. I don't think he was expecting to headline, he was expecting to get an invitation to the one and only skating tour in his home country – given his accomplishments that is not too much to ask!
I"m OK with him being rejected due to his (probable) homosexuality. Many know that homosexuality is a sin, others will deny it, but the bottom line is that the skaters should be pleasing to the audience in skating and personality and the interview I saw of Johnny Wier shows him to be silly, self-focused and somewhat rude. I would not want a show to put a homosexual on the ice anymore than I would want them to put an adulterer or polygamist on the ice. Morals DO matter.
he insists on wearing FUR…glad he's not included !!!
You people make me sick. You are so worried you may not seem P.C. , you can't speak against someone for being so blatently against family values and for self grandisement . You think he gives a crap about what you think, NO!. He is only out to further his own career at any one's expense
Well if no one likes him then why should he be on the Tour?? Huh? huh? I have never even heard of the kid!
He wears FUR….good for not including him !!!!
boycott smuckers, stars on ice, IMG and the lot …
perhaps that will get their attention
Johnny is a guy? I thought it was a girl, he's so flamming. I, for one would not go see Stars on Ice because I'd be afraid my eyes would burst into flames!
Admins flame!
Well, of COURSE it is discrimination, for God's sake! What else? It may be their LEGAL right to sign anyone they want or NOT, but it is our MORAL right to boycott their shows. So, as a world class skater, I am withdrawing from the Stars On Ice tour, and I'm asking ALL my skating colleagues to do so as well. I believe at least several will indeed drop out too. You all can do your part in boycotting the shows and encouraging your friends and family to do so as well. Cheers!
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Not even a new-born babe can buy their excuse of not being able to "accommodate" a skater like Johnny Weir when they have hired skaters with far fewer accolades over the years, and certainly a much smaller fan base. (Would you rather watch Michael Weiss or Johnny Weir?) When Stars on Ice featured a poll asking fans who should be in their show, Johnny Weir got more votes than all other men put together. Next thing the show did was hire Lysacek and snub Johnny Weir. They have the most boring skaters on the planet. I stopped going for about a decade because I couldn't sit through their awful cast.
Good God… if skating shows rejected male skaters based on their sexual orientation.. they would have died out years ago.
Johnny Weir has lots of fans but he isn't everyone's cup of tea.. and he certainly wasn't cheated out of the olympic title… for all we know he wanted too much money, or is difficult to get on with.. or maybe just maybe.. he didn't want to do it.
Even the article itself admits that they have ABSOULTELY NO BLOODY IDEA if he even wanted to take part…
This is a rediculous storm in a tea cup.. and all you chaps and chapesses should take a couple of valium and go lay down in a darkened room til all this misplaced anger passes.