ISU statement on Mariah Bell and Eun soo Lim

[rfisher]

Long term, this may be more harmful to Eunsoo than Mariah. The entire skating community knows this was not Mariah's fault and that it was Eunsoo's. The public won't care after 24 hours. The obsessed fans will find a new target. But, if I were Raf, I'd tell Eunsoo, I'm sorry, but the disruption to the training rink is too much and she needs to find a new coach. (what he actually does I have no idea). There are two communities here: skating and non-skating. Skating will support the person who did nothing wrong, but the USFSA should file a protest against Eunsoo's management. Mariah's family should hire an attorney and sue them. I think she can show that she was harmed. Non-skating will move on when they realize there is no further story. Mariah can and should block her social media. Frankly, all skaters should. This should be a lesson to these kids that there are seriously deranged people out there who will attack them because they are batshit crazy.

 

[Karen-W]

I think the people who are worrying over Mariah's reputation are going a bit overboard. Maybe I expect more out of American culture/society than can be expected, but I think if she hits the late-night talk show circuit next week and is her charming, bubbly self and explains how practice sessions work, that she had no idea she even grazed Lim, etc, this will blow over.

 

[PRlady]

this story was in the lead on NBC Nightly News just now. :-(

This says everything about the deterioration of American news and nothing on the actual situation.

 

[Seerek]

I doubt the ISU or USFS thought anyone would take notice of this story. It's totally bizarre that US media has picked it up. When do they ever care about skating?

Had this happened later in the week during the start of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, no one would bat an eye. But March has always been an odd lull in the sports calendar: football done, no baseball yet, no NBA/NHL playoffs yet. And entertainment has a lull too post Oscars and TV Sweeps.

 

[Frau Muller]

This all sounds like marketing agents’ pathetic attempt to garner some buzz for the sport. Ridiculous, given the temperaments of these skaters.

And...now we know who’ll be invited to the next Dancing with the Stars!

 

[natsulian]

The narrative has ONCE again shifted, underscoring the lack of integrity of journalists in today's climate:

USA Today: "Skater attacked on ice? Sensational but not true"
CBC: "ISU finds 'no evidence' that American skater deliberately injured Korean rival"

Others such as the Washington Post and New York Post have reported the latest incidents. News channels in America are covering it too, but are offering perspective and not simply pointing fingers at Mariah. All these articles are in the last 2-3 hours. Expect a media storm tomorrow once Mariah and Eunsoo send out their public statements.

 

[hanca]

I think the people who are worrying over Mariah's reputation are going a bit overboard. Maybe I expect more out of American culture/society than can be expected, but I think if she hits the late-night talk show circuit next week and is her charming, bubbly self and explains how practice sessions work, that she had no idea she even grazed Lim, etc, this will blow over.

It is not only her reputation, but whatever is on internet will stay there forever. Those who are not skating fans will think she did something wrong. So in day to day life it means being embarrassed to meet neighbours, non-skating friends, if she finds a job outside skating then she never knows when it will again resurface. People may not want to ask her but will be thinking it or saying it behind her back... I can imagine this to affect her emotionally.

 

[CaliSteve]

Long term, this may be more harmful to Eunsoo than Mariah. The entire skating community knows this was not Mariah's fault and that it was Eunsoo's. The public won't care after 24 hours. The obsessed fans will find a new target. But, if I were Raf, I'd tell Eunsoo, I'm sorry, but the disruption to the training rink is too much and she needs to find a new coach. (what he actually does I have no idea). There are two communities here: skating and non-skating. Skating will support the person who did nothing wrong, but the USFSA should file a protest against Eunsoo's management. Mariah's family should hire an attorney and sue them. I think she can show that she was harmed. Non-skating will move on when they realize there is no further story. Mariah can and should block her social media. Frankly, all skaters should. This should be a lesson to these kids that there are seriously deranged people out there who will attack them because they are batshit crazy.

ATS is notoriously known for creating false narratives for their own gain. Anticipating that Raf will want to part ways, they will create another narrative that Raf created a toxic environment of abuse and other lies and have Ensoo leave. This will make it look like Ensoo left a toxic environment rather then Raf wanting to part ways with her.

Its shady and evil.

 

[arakwafan2006]

If I was the coach, I would tell Lim that if she wants to remain in his group, it is her job to fix the situation. After all, it was her agency who started this mess. So that would mean Lim going public, apologising to Bell for the negative publicity, saying that she is certain that Bell didn’t hurt her on purpose and taking the full responsibility for getting injured (it was Bell’s run through which means that Lim should have looked out and moved out of her way. She wasn’t paying attention and it is her fault shegot injured. The person whose music is playing hasthe right of way.) and then it is up to Lim to choose, does she want to stay with the coach or not.

I don’t think I’d put that responsibility on a 16 year old.

 

[Finsta]

This says everything about the deterioration of American news and nothing on the actual situation.

Have you seen the skating gossip and drama in Russia? I says nothing about American news. It’s society

 

[PDilemma]

Had this happened later in the week during the start of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, no one would bat an eye. But March has always been an odd lull in the sports calendar: football done, no baseball yet, no NBA/NHL playoffs yet. And entertainment has a lull too post Oscars and TV Sweeps.

Basketball started today. This is a story that ATS packaged up with maximum scandal potential ensuring maximum clicks/viewers, so first round basketball games aren't enough to knock it out of the headlines.

 

[Finsta]

I don’t think I’d put that responsibility on a 16 year old.

Why not? She created this mess

 

[CaliSteve]

The narrative has ONCE again shifted, underscoring the lack of integrity of journalists in today's climate:

USA Today: "Skater attacked on ice? Sensational but not true"
CBC: "ISU finds 'no evidence' that American skater deliberately injured Korean rival"

Others such as the Washington Post and New York Post have reported the latest incidents. News channels in America are covering it too, but are offering perspective and not simply pointing fingers at Mariah. All these articles are in the last 2-3 hours. Expect a media storm tomorrow once Mariah and Eunsoo send out their public statements.

I look at the latest narrative as a counter balance to "skater attacked" "skater stabbed" etc. Lets also not forget the statements that ATS release with unfounded accusations and planted them in social media.

 

[DreamSkates]

The media (WaPo etc) should have done that before running with the story!

For sure. It was on the nightly news - CBS. In the end of the report they said the ISU officials stated the video showed it was an accident. SO WHY WAS IT EVEN ON THE NEWS!!!!

 

[overedge]

The narrative has ONCE again shifted, underscoring the lack of integrity of journalists in today's climate:

USA Today: "Skater attacked on ice? Sensational but not true"
CBC: "ISU finds 'no evidence' that American skater deliberately injured Korean rival"

Others such as the Washington Post and New York Post have reported the latest incidents. News channels in America are covering it too, but are offering perspective and not simply pointing fingers at Mariah. All these articles are in the last 2-3 hours. Expect a media storm tomorrow once Mariah and Eunsoo send out their public statements.

It's called a "developing story". The narrative is shifting as new information comes out or is uncovered. It doesn't show a lack of integrity - it's how the news business works.

 

[arakwafan2006]

Why not? She created this mess

Do you have a comprehension deficiency? It’s clear, if you read that Lim has not said or created shit! Her agency did. This is the kind of jumping to conclusions without knowing what you’re talking about that the Korean fans did.

Nice job

 

[CaliSteve]

Brian is doing just fine and I have hope that Mariah and her reputation will recover too. I don't think you get to her level by being a fragile lily.

We all know he is doing fine, but there was alot of unnecessary drama during the parting of ways. I also mentioned that situation as an example of how ATS works.

Oh wasnt there something that happened at 2009 Worlds.

 

[rosewood]

It reminded me of Yu-Na (whose management company was/is ATS) saying she was annoyed by a bunch of skaters during official practices. Her fans or people in her country reacted OTT and their anger went toward Japanese skaters who were in the same official practices such as Mao, Miki, Yukari and Akiko. Poor Mao eventually had to have a press conference just before leaving her country for Worlds. I think most of people didn't think Mao and other Japanese skaters intentionally annoyed Yu-Na during official practices but still now there remains a slight shadow of the bad image of the incident. I really don't like this kind of thing.

 

[DreamSkates]

Here is CBS' email - feel free to write. I am! Or, write the source where you heard the rumor as that is all it was. Could ruin someone's career.
[email protected]

 

[CaliSteve]

Why not? She created this mess

I dont blame Ensoo or her parents. I blame ATS.

 

[UGG]

Long term, this may be more harmful to Eunsoo than Mariah. The entire skating community knows this was not Mariah's fault and that it was Eunsoo's. The public won't care after 24 hours. The obsessed fans will find a new target. But, if I were Raf, I'd tell Eunsoo, I'm sorry, but the disruption to the training rink is too much and she needs to find a new coach. (what he actually does I have no idea). There are two communities here: skating and non-skating. Skating will support the person who did nothing wrong, but the USFSA should file a protest against Eunsoo's management. Mariah's family should hire an attorney and sue them. I think she can show that she was harmed. Non-skating will move on when they realize there is no further story. Mariah can and should block her social media. Frankly, all skaters should. This should be a lesson to these kids that there are seriously deranged people out there who will attack them because they are batshit crazy.

Mariah has been accused and demonized for assault. I am sure she isn't going to get over it quickly. I imagine this will be very traumatic for her. She might not be able to do a run thorough with other skaters on the ice without severe anxiety for a really long time. That is going to affect her career. Go read about trauma after bullying.

 

[CaliSteve]

It reminded me of Yu-Na (whose management company was/is ATS) saying she was annoyed by a bunch of skaters during official practices. Her fans or people in her country reacted OTT and their anger went toward Japanese skaters who were in the same official practices such as Mao, Miki, Yukari and Akiko. Poor Mao eventually had to have a press conference just before leaving her country for Worlds. I think most of people didn't think Mao and other Japanese skaters intentionally annoyed Yu-Na during official practices but still now there remains a slight shadow of the bad image of the incident. I really don't like this kind of thing.

FYI- ATS is owned by Yuna's mother.

 

[hanca]

I don’t think I’d put that responsibility on a 16 year old.

Not her fault, but it is her problem. If she is negatively impacting on her coach’s business and another skater’s career, why should he keep her? Yes, she is 16, but she may have to do some steps to calm the situation down. It is her agency, she signed up with them, so she will bear the consequences.

She is happily accepting the benefits of being signed up with this agency, so she must be able to take the negatives if the agency messes up. She can’t have it just one way - happy with the benefits but have no responsibility for the agency actions done on her behalf. The agency have decided to destroy the career of her fellow skater. She can either distance herself from this and make sure everyone knows the truth, or she can play the card that she is just an innocent 16 year old girl, ‘it is not my fault’, but then she shouldn’t be surprised that no coach will want to work with her. She may have to go back to Korea because she may struggle to get a coach anywhere else.

 

[PRlady]

I doubt the ISU or USFS thought anyone would take notice of this story. It's totally bizarre that US media has picked it up. When do they ever care about skating?

And why are the ISU and USFS responsibility, but not the Korean federation?

This is ATS's mess. They've destroyed Mariah's reputation with the public, before she really even had one.

It’s NBC! Let’s get more eyeballs on Worlds. As for WashPost, they’re one of the few major papers to cover skating because someone who shall go nameless told them there were a a lot of skating fans in the DC area, many years ago.

JK, I’ve no idea why they jumped on this but it is not necessarily bad for either skater, depending on what happens now.

 

[bardtoob]

Ummm ... the headlines are insane, using words like "slashed with her blade".

... Also a lot of "Nancy and Tonya", who were National Champions and World medalists.

This is "NOBODY having an accident with NOBODY". Neither is going to medal.

 

[centerstage01]

What should happen next (but probably won’t):

-Lim and Bell put all social media on lockdown.
-Lim talks with Raf and her family, then the Korean Fed. Fire ATS and have a press release ready to go explaining the reason for kicking them to the curb. **Apologize to Mariah** and then say the video was clear Mariah had the right-of-way, and that is the end of this. Period.
-Both ladies skate

 

[Finsta]

Do you have a comprehension deficiency? It’s clear, if you read that Lim has not said or created shit! Her agency did. This is the kind of jumping to conclusions without knowing what you’re talking about that the Korean fans did.

Nice job

Who are you again??

And yes. She should make a statement that it’s not true. This incident is about her. She should be embarrassed and correct it. Most people would do this if something was being blown out of proportion. Why let Mariah continue being harassed and threatened by fans?

 

[CaliSteve]

It’s NBC! Let’s get more eyeballs on Worlds. As for WashPost, they’re one of the few major papers to cover skating because someone who shall go nameless told them there were a a lot of skating fans in the DC area, many years ago.

JK, I’ve no idea why they jumped on this but it is not necessarily bad for either skater, depending on what happens now.

I disagree with regards to "not being bad" for either skater. I also think this kind of publicity only perpetuates a negative image of figure skating.

 

[CaliSteve]

Who are you again??

And yes. She should make a statement that it’s not true. This incident is about her. She should be embarrassed and correct it. Most people would do this if something was being blown out of proportion. Why let Mariah continue being harassed and threatened by fans?

Ensoo is 16 years old and doesnt have a choice on whether she should apologize or not. Its really up to her parents.

 

[hanca]

Ensoo is 16 years old and doesnt have a choice on whether she should apologize or not. Its really up to her parents.

Of course she can apologise. There are plenty of newspapers present at worlds. If she is unhappy with how her agency is working on her behalf, the easiest thing would be to give an interview explaining that the injury was her fault because whoever’s music is playing has the right of way and she wasn’t paying attention, and adding a public apology to Mariah for negative publicity, it would stop all this mess. Saying that she can’t do anything is not true. She was old enough to sign with an agency, so she must be old enough to take responsibility for the agency’s actions.