Johnny in NYMag

[REO]

I wouldn't get too shook about any statements in that article. She made remarks that were out of context or half truths and some that were downright false. You got alot more real info from sunny sari and BittyBug just now than from whoever that "journalist" was. I have no idea what the agenda was for her to make snide comments about Tara's apartment and another person's weight! Apparently she's built like Demi Moore and her abode was featured in Architectural Digest. Also, if I had to read that Johnny doesn't like for people to be put into boxes once more I'd have fallen asleep from boredom. Hey at least a popular mag is writing about him and people are interested!

[reese]

Yeah, I took German and Arabic in high school, so I must be fluent too. I also occasionally read Vogue, so naturally I can't have a 9-5.

There are a lot of over-the-top claims in this article, but that's just Johnny's personality. He's a serial exaggerator. According to this article, he should have been Olympic champion and probably would have been had USFS simply pushed him politically. Hey, he even got an admission from a mysterious someone inside the USFSA that they screwed him! How convenient.

[sunny_sari]

Yeah, I took German and Arabic in high school, so I must be fluent too. I also occasionally read Vogue, so naturally I can't have a 9-5.

There are a lot of over-the-top claims in this article, but that's just Johnny's personality. He's a serial exaggerator. According to this article, he should have been Olympic champion and probably would have been had USFS simply pushed him politically. Hey, he even got an admission from a mysterious someone inside the USFSA that they screwed him! How convenient.

Haha, why do you continue to propel an argument you clearly aren't winning? (in regards to the russian thing)

In regards to the can't have a 9-5 the struggles that Johnny is dealing with now and are highlighted on his show and in this article are the same struggles that ALL elite-caliber athletes go through when they transition from training and competing to a "normal" life. Due to the fact that training takes up all of their time that IS their 9-5 and for most of them like Johnny has been since they were young kids. Why is it hard for you to believe that they would stop competing at 26 and all of the sudden find the world a little frightening when realizing they lack practical skills for 9-5s?

Nobody's saying that Johnny doesn't exaggerate because he DOES and isn't dramatic because he certainly IS. That's kinda his schtick. However people have been telling him since the Olympics ended "omg you were robbed," "I think you should have had a medal," "you're a medalist in my eyes." Clearly there was something people reacted to strongly and with passion that can't be translated into marks. Johnny hears this all of the time and continues to hear it every day. Even the gymnast who interviewed him on Around the Gym
at the gymnastics nationals repeated that to him. It's hard not to internalize that after a while. I think Johnny has and his brain (or heart) probably still exists in the 6.0 system where no doubt he WOULD have had a medal.

I don't think for a second he's claiming he should have won the gold medal in Vancouver. He's not stupid. He's never uttered those words. He said "I'd probably be champion" referring to what could have been if he had done things the right way and played the game all along. That's different than saying "I should have been champion." He's awknowledging what he let slip by him. Whether he regrets it or not, or ever will.... who knows. That's only for HIM to say.

[REO]

Yeah, I took German and Arabic in high school, so I must be fluent too. I also occasionally read Vogue, so naturally I can't have a 9-5.

Get a grip about this language thing. It has been shown to you that people who actually speak Russian as a mother tongue say he's fluent in the language. Why can't you accept it? Get out your little dictionary and read the definition: "Having facility in the use of a language." Add to that the fact that he himself denies that he is fluent in either Russian or French so what is the problemo?

[Muffin]

Why is it hard for you to believe that they would stop competing at 26 and all of the sudden find the world a little frightening when realizing they lack practical skills for 9-5s?

But that's not what Johnny said in the article. He didn't say he had a LACK of skills for 9-5. He made it sound like the skills he DOES have are too extraordinary for 9-5. I think he's really out of touch with the real world if he is not aware that there are millions of people who speak French and love vintage Chanel who work 9-5 jobs - sometimes extremely unglamorous and boring 9-5 jobs. I think Johnny's problem is an overestimation of his skills.

[sunny_sari]

But that's not what Johnny said in the article. He didn't say he had a LACK of skills for 9-5. He made it sound like the skills he DOES have are too extraordinary for 9-5. I think he's really out of touch with the real world if he is not aware that there are millions of people who speak French and love vintage Chanel who work 9-5 jobs - sometimes extremely unglamorous and boring 9-5 jobs. I think Johnny's problem is an overestimation of his skills.

"In spite of all the skills that I do have, to relate to the normal world I have no applicable skills,”

"I know what Halston is. All of these things, but they can’t really be applied to a nine-to-five.”

The operative word again here I believe is "applicable." Johnny is describing the skills and/or talents he's learned along the way as things that aren't practical for him and can't be useful when applied to a 9-5 job. Where is it in the article that he states these skills are to be deemed too spectacular and better than those needed for a 9-5 job? He doesn't demean 9-5 jobs as unglamorous, or boring and actually gives the impression that he longs for direction and something that can be applied in a practical way to help move him forward.

[reese]

I don't think for a second he's claiming he should have won the gold medal in Vancouver. He's not stupid. He's never uttered those words. He said "I'd probably be champion" referring to what could have been if he had done things the right way and played the game all along. That's different than saying "I should have been champion." He's awknowledging what he let slip by him. Whether he regrets it or not, or ever will.... who knows. That's only for HIM to say.

“I think if I had been more p.c., had I played by the rules a bit more, I’d be the Olympic champion this year,” he says.

How lucky for you that you know exactly what he *really* meant by this.

[sunny_sari]

“I think if I had been more p.c., had I played by the rules a bit more, I’d be the Olympic champion this year,” he says.

How lucky for you that you know exactly what he *really* meant by this.

No I don't know exactly what he means by anything he says. I do stand behind what I said in that there is a big difference between saying "I'd be the champ this time" and "I should have been the champ."

Also given the consistency in his statements about the first and second place winners since the Olympics I find it highly unlikely he considers himself robbed of the gold, especially since not once has he said anything even close to that before. There are at least 4 interviews in which he praises Lysacek's performance and states that he did deserve the gold. He also adores Plushenko and has endlessly praised him, including his olympic performance.

[Gwoofer]

It's not that I think he comes right out and tells deliberate lies. I think he stews and frets over these things until he actually persuades himself that they really wanted to give him the gold and it was just political that they didn't. He wouldn't be the first person to think that way.

Just my impression -- I could be totally wrong.

No he wouldn't. But, many thought the same of Plushenko vs. Lysachek. Arguements can be made many way with many different criteria.

[REO]

“I think if I had been more p.c., had I played by the rules a bit more, I’d be the Olympic champion this year,” he says.

My reading of that was that if he had played by the rules throughout his career, the Federation would have kept promoting him and supporting him as their number one skater and he could have been the champion. Not that he thinks that as things played out he should have beaten Evan in Vancouver.

[DickButtonFan]

Johnny claims he was fluent in French at 17 according to this:

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/164...ml?mobile=true

I don't care personally whether he is fluent or not btw. I just happened to find this so I posted.

[sunny_sari]

Johnny claims he was fluent in French at 17 according to this:

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/164...ml?mobile=true

I don't care personally whether he is fluent or not btw. I just happened to find this so I posted.

He WAS fluent in french.... at 17. He is not now and doesn't claim to be.

[stjeaskategym]

My reading of that was that if he had played by the rules throughout his career, the Federation would have kept promoting him and supporting him as their number one skater and he could have been the champion. Not that he thinks that as things played out he should have beaten Evan in Vancouver.

That's how I read it as well. I just don't think Johnny is making much sense. Even if the U.S. Federation "supported him as their number one skater" from 2006 onward, fact of the matter is that he bombed 2009 Nationals while his teammate became World Champion. Why would the U.S. still "promote" Weir as their best skater heading into 2010 when the reigning World Champ comes from the same country? It doesn't make sense. If the U.S. was "promoting" Lysacek and Abbott over Weir, it's probably because they had actually won competitions lately, not because they were better at "playing by the rules". Lysacek and Abbott are very strong skaters in their own right, and they "promoted themselves" by out-skating Weir multiple times in the past couple of years.

Johnny doesn't seem to understand this, and if he does, he won't admit it, probably because it's better for his TV show to believe that his "controversial image" is more to blame for his skating results rather than his actual skating.

[kwanfan1818]

omg i love this picture

I love the blouse. (But not for $1500, including tax...)

I hate how he always says he's "fluent" in Russian. That's total bullshit. He can speak a few lines here and there and he can catch the gist of some of the Russian spoken to him. And now he claims to also be fluent in French. Ridiculous. It's this kind of thing, while trivial and insignificant, that reveals a lot about his relationship to facts and truth.

He was quoted as saying, "I can speak Russian. I can speak French." I don't see any "fluent" in there.

[Nomad]

Well, he had a really difficult break-up, he believes he was robbed at the Olympics, and something has driven him to take up smoking.

[Japanfan]

"In spite of all the skills that I do have, to relate to the normal world I have no applicable skills,”

"I know what Halston is. All of these things, but they can’t really be applied to a nine-to-five.”

The operative word again here I believe is "applicable." Johnny is describing the skills and/or talents he's learned along the way as things that aren't practical for him and can't be useful when applied to a 9-5 job. Where is it in the article that he states these skills are to be deemed too spectacular and better than those needed for a 9-5 job? He doesn't demean 9-5 jobs as unglamorous, or boring and actually gives the impression that he longs for direction and something that can be applied in a practical way to help move him forward.

His skills do have practical applicability. If he wanted a 9-5 job, he could package and present in such a way that he could get that job. There's lots of things he could do - his linguistic, skating and modeling experience entails a lot of skills and abilities.

Many people involved in fashion and event management do work 9 to 5 and have a job title.

[psycho]

http://news.pinkpaper.com/NewsStory/...adcasters.aspx

Yay for Quebec Press Council.

[Rainbow]

His skills do have practical applicability. If he wanted a 9-5 job, he could package and present in such a way that he could get that job. There's lots of things he could do - his linguistic, skating and modeling experience entails a lot of skills and abilities.

Many people involved in fashion and event management do work 9 to 5 and have a job title.

Except for the linguistic experience (he just went to classes like a few weeks as far as I remember from an interview) I agree. He could do a writing training and seems talented enough at it in order to try to start in fashion PR -- I seriously doubt that`s the kind of job he has in mind though. No glamour. Likely little pay. And probably a lot less freedom than on the ice. However, I think such an experience would put a lot of "they were so unfair to me" experiences in perspective which might be good for him.

[BittyBug]

Seems like neither Johnny nor Patti were please with the slant of the article. From today's NY Daily News (admittedly, a total rag):

Johnny Weir can take a few insults, but don't upset his mom. The Olympic skater tells us he wasn't thrilled with how New York magazine portrayed him in its current issue, but what really cheeses him off is that his mother "was offended" by the feature.

"She said it seemed I wasn't serious and I was just another New York-area person just going to parties," Weir says, before explaining: "Yes, I was getting ready for red-carpet events, but I was going to them to work and network." Weir also grouses that the feature "attacked my people. ... I can be told to be subjected to a gender test, I can have my clothes attacked, but when you attack my people, my army, that's when I get pissed off!"

A spokeswoman for New York magazine responds: "We love Johnny Weir - as Amy [Larocca] writes in the piece, he's ‘talented and clever and beautiful,' and we think that comes through in the profile and photos."

[kwanfan1818]

If he's going to be sensitive that people don't think highly of Modlin based on what she says and the way she presents herself -- and there's extensive footage on his show and manleywoman's skatecast, not just a "NY Magazine" article -- he's going to spend a lot of time being pissed off.