The Skating Lesson

[caitie]

Not to defend them if they actually sent Jonathan hundreds of messages, but honestly what do Dave and Jonathan expect? They besmirch people’s reputations with next to no impunity on their show every week. Are they really surprised it pisses people off? I listened last night and Kori can’t teach technique and Jonathan said she’s afraid of letting Jason succeed. They said Rohene has zero class as a choreographer, and they’ve been picking at him almost every week. If you can dish it out like that, you better suck it up and deal with a reasonable amount of displeasure in return.

Now 300 messages is not reasonable. If that’s what happened.

 

[Wyliefan]

Dave tweeted:
"You were so supportive & wonderful when my cohost couldn't handle skating."

Very classy to throw Jenny under the bus after she helped to build up TSL in the first place.

Yes, I saw that. What a charmer.

 

[allezfred]

#CryingInABathroomInGrenoble should be trending on Twitter.

 

[olympic]

OMG. I stopped watching soon after Jenny left.

Still waiting for Fratianne part 2.

 

[chapis]

And I remember how back in 2013 Dave insinuated the Shibs were bribing judges. His whole shtick has always been about personal attacks against skaters and sometimes even their families and Johnathan is no better.

no just 2013, all this time TSL continue saying it. I am sorry if this really happened to Jonathan, he said it hurts (surprise Jonathan, words hurt), but I know how much Maia and Alex work, they work at weekends, days and nights, and someone saying that their achievements are due to another reason besides their work, must hurt too. So if what Jonathan says is real, maybe it will help them win some empathy towards the skaters, but I doubt very much that this will happen.

 

[Dolore]

OMG. I stopped watching soon after Jenny left.

Still waiting for Fratianne part 2.

Dave tweeted that part 2 of the interview would only be available to his paying viewers on Patreon. I don't know if it's already up or if he has changed his mind about it but it doesn't look like we'll get to see it ( unless you want to pay that is ).

 

[suki]

no just 2013, all this time TSL continue saying it. I am sorry if this really happened to Jonathan, he said it hurts (surprise Jonathan, words hurt), but I know how much Maia and Alex work, they work at weekends, days and nights, and someone saying that their achievements are due to another reason besides their work, must hurt too. So if what Jonathan says is real, maybe it will help them win some empathy towards the skaters, but I doubt very much that this will happen.

The comments they have made about the Shibs, V/M, Chock/Bates have been nothing more than plain old bashing. I know they are big fans of P/C, but is it necessary to make scurrilous comments about other teams if they don't meet your personal aesthetic?

 

[Kultakissu]

Ugh the whole thing is disgusting & embarrassing. Especially disappointing to see so many people defending TSL on twitter. So you can talk shit about people on a public forum, and when somebody calls you out on your bullshit in private, they are being bullies and should apologise? You can fcuk right off. Unfollowing folks so hard rn

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

The skaters work so hard, that as viewers, we are tremendously privileged they put themselves out there for professional judgement and public evaluation.

Given it is a niche sport where everyone seems to know everyone else, Ted Barton is a great example of a commentator when offering his criticism, is always positive, supportive and educative all rolled into one.

 

[Lanie]

Dave only cares about his skating groupies and living large in his own mind. I doubt he gives two fcuks about skating honestly with the way he treats skaters and coaches. He just wants the attention.

 

[Aerobicidal]

Leave TSL alone!!!

 

[Kultakissu]

Leave TSL alone!!!

Omg I just laughed so loud on the train I swear a little kid three seats over started to cry out of sheer fright

 

[tony]

It would be glorious if someone who is extremely familiar with the majority of the videos TSL has put out made a montage of the 'best' moments where Dave and Jonathan made comments that transcended the skating itself, whether it be about the physical shape the skater was in, the costuming/make-up, the personal lives, the rink drama with other skaters, how people annoyed/wasted their time by just being present, etc. Because I'm gathering that Jonathan seems to think that he only 'talks about a program' while he's on TSL and that's why he was so devastated by two people calling him out.

 

[artsciboy]

Its so sad that all of these TSL groupies jumped in to support Jonathan's tweet without seeing a single FB post that he alluded to...

 

[Willin]

Just a question : why woud they lie about that ? Because I don't see what they can get from this...
And have Kori and Rohene denied anything yet ?
Genuienely trying to understand here. Because it's okay to say their "fans" are dumbly defending them, it's another when people here do the exact same with Kori and Rohene.
I mean, I would even understand if people will do that with Dave (not insults but being called out of course)... but certainly not Jonathan.
(Again I'm not taking any sides. Just trying to understand)

I'm assuming what happened is that they said something (publicly or privately) that offended Kori/Rohene or shared something Kori/Rohene told them in confidence that they were not supposed to share. That made Kori/Rohene send him messages (definitely not 300 of them - that would take literally days to type out unless every sentence/word was a separate message) telling him that what he did/said was inappropriate or that he should otherwise not share things they told him in confidence. And then, feeling attacked by an entirely reasonable response by Kori/Rohene, he posted this on twitter.
Now, it may be that Kori and Rohene could have worded the messages poorly - it's easy not to realize how bad something reads when you're typing it, particularly in the heat of the moment - but I can't see them intentionally going on some 300 message tyrade attacking him, even if it was for a good reason.

Well, came home from work to see that the Tweet is now gone. Maybe he stopped crying.

I wonder if he realized how bad it looked that he didn't have receipts... Or maybe he woke up and realized that without receipts no one would believe him and TSL's last few insider connections to the skating community would be lost.

 

[Kultakissu]

It would be glorious if someone who is extremely familiar with the majority of the videos TSL has put out made a montage of the 'best' moments where Dave and Jonathan made comments that transcended the skating itself, whether it be about the physical shape the skater was in, the costuming/make-up, the personal lives, the rink drama with other skaters, how people annoyed/wasted their time by just being present, etc. Because I'm gathering that Jonathan seems to think that he only 'talks about a program' while he's on TSL and that's why he was so devastated by two people calling him out.

I just thought about doing this myself! But then I realised I’d have to watch a LOT of TSL to do it and ain’t nobody got time for that

 

[mysticchic]

I'm assuming what happened is that they said something (publicly or privately) that offended Kori/Rohene or shared something Kori/Rohene told them in confidence that they were not supposed to share. That made Kori/Rohene send him messages (definitely not 300 of them - that would take literally days to type out unless every sentence/word was a separate message) telling him that what he did/said was inappropriate or that he should otherwise not share things they told him in confidence. And then, feeling attacked by an entirely reasonable response by Kori/Rohene, he posted this on twitter.
Now, it may be that Kori and Rohene could have worded the messages poorly - it's easy not to realize how bad something reads when you're typing it, particularly in the heat of the moment - but I can't see them intentionally going on some 300 message tyrade attacking him, even if it was for a good reason.


I wonder if he realized how bad it looked that he didn't have receipts... Or maybe he woke up and realized that without receipts no one would believe him and TSL's last few insider connections to the skating community would be lost.

THIS! I doubt it was even close to 300, let alone 10! Maybe Kori alerted someone within PSA or USFS and they added a few things.
When Dave and Jenny started TSL, blogging was fairly new, and the feds were looking how to utilize the new medium. I think they had to take the good with the bad and jenny was/is respected in the skating community. At 1st they had a good following and with Jenny there was some value to it. But since she has left, it's gone downhill and Dave seems to just get more bitter and angrier as it goes along. Jonathan, seems like a nice guy and all, but is clueless to how things work. I bet he figured he could do what he wanted and since he is "media", they would put up with it. i'm guessing he overstepped the boundaries and got a huge dressing down.
It's the Olympic year and USFSA and the coaches are not going to put up with anything at this point. Depending on the infraction, Kori or Rohene won't be making any statements. But if it's bad enough, and needs addressing, Dave and Jonathan will be dealt with by the upper management with USFS and ISU. If it's at that level, they should be very afraid.
This to me sounds like it was serious and not a friendly, hey you shouldn't be saying things like that. it was at an ISU event and whatever it was, was bad.

 

[Jarrett]

Real journalist don't make them a part of the story. Yes, you become friends and as an insider, you walk a fine line of what should be filtered for the public.... Dave and company need to decide if they are real journalist or wanna be insiders/gossips.

Can you forward this to any major news outlet in the United States?

 

[barbarafan]

It would be glorious if someone who is extremely familiar with the majority of the videos TSL has put out made a montage of the 'best' moments where Dave and Jonathan made comments that transcended the skating itself, whether it be about the physical shape the skater was in, the costuming/make-up, the personal lives, the rink drama with other skaters, how people annoyed/wasted their time by just being present, etc. Because I'm gathering that Jonathan seems to think that he only 'talks about a program' while he's on TSL and that's why he was so devastated by two people calling him out.

No can do...when he really crosses the line he goes back and edits the vids removing the most offensive parts.I do not mind Jonathan as I do think he is more inclined to stick to the skating but Dave is detestable and I have seen Jonathan interrupt him at times when he was on a rant and contradict him.

 

[mysticchic]

Can you forward this to any major news outlet in the United States?

No, but it was an ISU event so I'm sure there were journalist from around the world who may report on this nonsense in a gossip section. I worked in hard news, and most of the people I worked with handle government, weather events and mass murder type things.
The people I know in sports that cover figure skating i am sure are aware of these guys and wouldn't acknowledge that this even existed.

 

[Jarrett]

Johnathan spent the last few weeks bashing VM fans and Canadians in particular and now he complains about bullying?

Dave tweeted:
"You were so supportive & wonderful when my cohost couldn't handle skating."

Very classy to throw Jenny under the bus after she helped to build up TSL in the first place. She did all the editing and it were her connections that got them all the interviews. I don't blame Jenny at all for leaving TSL, she probably just couldn't handle Dave any longer.

And I remember how back in 2013 Dave insinuated the Shibs were bribing judges. His whole shtick has always been about personal attacks against skaters and sometimes even their families and Johnathan is no better.

How is that quote throwing Jenny under the bus? Jenny is doing her thing and doesn't have time to do the show. They went over it in her last videos.

 

[Jarrett]

No, but it was an ISU event so I'm sure there were journalist from around the world who may report on this nonsense in a gossip section. I worked in hard news, and most of the people I worked with handle government, weather events and mass murder type things.
The people I know in sports that cover figure skating i am sure are aware of these guys and wouldn't acknowledge that this even existed.

I have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[Jarrett]

Its so sad that all of these TSL groupies jumped in to support Jonathan's tweet without seeing a single FB post that he alluded to...

Isn't that what people do now? Guilty in public opinion until proved otherwise?

 

[ilovepaydays]

Another point: Isn’t Jonathan a professional opera singer? I’ve always been under the impression that in order to make it in professional classical music, you have to have really think skin. Something tells me that doesn’t include crying in a bathroom because someone sent you some mean (or even nasty) messages.

 

[Cleo1782]

THIS! I doubt it was even close to 300, let alone 10! Maybe Kori alerted someone within PSA or USFS and they added a few things.
When Dave and Jenny started TSL, blogging was fairly new, and the feds were looking how to utilize the new medium. I think they had to take the good with the bad and jenny was/is respected in the skating community. At 1st they had a good following and with Jenny there was some value to it. But since she has left, it's gone downhill and Dave seems to just get more bitter and angrier as it goes along. Jonathan, seems like a nice guy and all, but is clueless to how things work. I bet he figured he could do what he wanted and since he is "media", they would put up with it. i'm guessing he overstepped the boundaries and got a huge dressing down.
It's the Olympic year and USFSA and the coaches are not going to put up with anything at this point. Depending on the infraction, Kori or Rohene won't be making any statements. But if it's bad enough, and needs addressing, Dave and Jonathan will be dealt with by the upper management with USFS and ISU. If it's at that level, they should be very afraid.
This to me sounds like it was serious and not a friendly, hey you shouldn't be saying things like that. it was at an ISU event and whatever it was, was bad.

I would hope the USFS have more important things to do then referee a fight between coaches and bloggers. I don't even know any details because nothing besides that one tweet has been released, but it doesn't really seem that serious. Not to defend TSL or argue with you, but what sort of infraction would you consider to be serious enough for the governing bodies to get involved?

 

[ilovepaydays]

I would hope the USFS have more important things to do then referee a fight between coaches and bloggers. I don't even know any details because nothing besides that one tweet has been released, but it doesn't really seem that serious. Not to defend TSL or argue with you, but what sort of infraction would you consider to be serious enough for the governing bodies to get involved?

Good point - although isn’t USFS in charge of approving press credentials for U.S. Nationals? I’m assuming Lease has applied for one and I’m pretty sure he got one in previous years. Something worth thinking about.

 

[Quadaxel2020]

Good point - although isn’t USFS in charge of approving press credentials for U.S. Nationals? I’m assuming Lease has applied for one and I’m pretty sure he got one in previous years. Something worth thinking about.

I'm sure he ruined any chances of credientials when he went on that crazy twitter rant about how awful the USFSA is a few months back. Anyone remember that?

 

[Cleo1782]

Good point - although isn’t USFS in charge of approving press credentials for U.S. Nationals? I’m assuming Lease has applied for one and I’m pretty sure he got one in previous years. Something worth thinking about.

Yes. He has gotten a press credential in the past from USFS. He had a press pass last year at Nationals. But honestly this doesn't really seem to have much to do with Dave. It seems between Jonathan and Kori/Rohene. I just think we are giving this more attention than it deserves. The tweet was taken down and it all seems kind of silly to me. Most people don't believe it anyway. Sure it may be slightly embarrassing for Kori/Rohene if true and extremely annoying if not true, but it just doesn't sound like something the USFS would get involved in.

 

[kittyjake5]

I'm sure he ruined any chances of credientials when he went on that crazy twitter rant about how awful the USFSA is a few months back. Anyone remember that?

Yup I do.

Never was a fan of Dave though I did watch when Jenny was involved.
Dave just strikes me as unstable and the venom he spews is something else.
It is not clear what happened between the parties but giving Dave's
track record in the past he probably facilitated the problem. JMO

 

[Cleo1782]

Well Dave just tweeted he finished recording this and that for France, so I guess we will hear their thoughts tonight on it all or perhaps get some sort of clarification.