Eric Radford and Vanessa James to compete in pairs together for Canada

[tony]

I don't put any stock in anonymous Internet posters saying they have talked to someone.

I don't really care what you think. I'm hardly anonymous, but keep on with your assumptions and own ideas.

 

[starrynight]

There are no shows in North America now and probably won’t be until 2022. There really isn’t such a thing as a professional career in skating at the moment.

If Eric wants a shot at the Olympics and has a partner that is actively hungry for it, he should take the opportunity. Competitive skating is where it’s at for the moment, as there are no shows.

Would Meghan truly have wanted to make a full comeback?

 

[Xsktrx]

Not all Canadian fans will have forgotten. Especially the reasons why Vanessa's previous partnership ended.

They may not have forgotten but they will still be cheering them on. So many condemned Kirsten for how they perceived she treated Dylan but by Nationals I didn’t hear any boos when she and Mike skated. That’s just the nature of skating fans. Basically so polite.

 

[overedge]

They may not have forgotten but they will still be cheering them on. So many condemned Kirsten for how they perceived she treated Dylan but by Nationals I didn’t hear any boos when she and Mike skated. That’s just the nature of skating fans. Basically so polite.

Neither Kirsten or Mike were involved in a situation where their former partner was bullying and harassing an underage skater, and then conspiring with their coaches to cover it up.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

There are no shows in North America now and probably won’t be until 2022. There really isn’t such a thing as a professional career in skating at the moment.

If Eric wants a shot at the Olympics and has a partner that is actively hungry for it, he should take the opportunity. Competitive skating is where it’s at for the moment, as there are no shows.

Would Meghan truly have wanted to make a full comeback?

I agree

It’s strange to see how this all unfolded today. My first comment originally was how exciting and cool the new team and another chance for Vanessa. Then the other stuff started to unfold.

This happens in skating all the time. Chris Knierim retired so does that mean Alexa needs to hang it up? She was able to move on with Brandon. Literally this happens every season to some degree.

I guess we assume the behind-the-scenes stuff gets taken care of like conversations with Haven and Meagan. It appears that Eric did reach out to Meagan but whom do you choose to believe

I’ve always loved both of them but my opinion kind of changed when someone posted her doing the TSL world breakdowns with Dave and her comments on fellow figure skaters including my Beloved Bradie lol. Ummmm She did help secure three spots for the USA Meagan LOL

The Olympics are only nine months away. Very short time to get together to make an Olympic team. I wonder if they want to continue after that

 

[topaz]

My thoughts... Eric was not completely honest with Meagan. At the very least, Meagan seems like a no bull shit kind of person. She can take bad news, she could have taken him just saying I want to skate competitively again with another skater. I believe Meagan when she wrote she was blindsided.

Meagan has always been supportive with Eric. He was her friend and don't f**ked up.


I am disappointed in both of them and especially Vanessa's behavior regarding Morgan Cipres.

I don't wish anything bad to them as team but I won't be cheering for them. Canada was on thin ice for a bronze in the team competition anyway. However, I will cheering for Japan to win that Bronze team medal though.

 

[Aaron MB Fan]

Neither Kirsten or Mike were involved in a situation where their former partner was bullying and harassing an underage skater, and then conspiring with their coaches to cover it up.

Is there any actual confirmation/proof that Vanessa was conspiring with her coaches to cover it up? As others have mentioned, there could be many reasons for no communication on her part, including Legal guidance to do so.

 

[Xsktrx]

Neither Kirsten or Mike were involved in a situation where their former partner was bullying and harassing an underage skater, and then conspiring with their coaches to cover it up.

Of course I don’t approve of that situation, but I’ll let you know how many boos I hear at Nationals when they announce Vanessa and Eric as next to skate...fans are fans always looking for their next hero.

 

[VICK B.]

I assuming this is for the Olympics... which is next year ....

 

[overedge]

Is there any actual confirmation/proof that Vanessa was conspiring with her coaches to cover it up? As others have mentioned, there could be many reasons for no communication on her part, including Legal guidance to do so.

I meant that Morgan was actually involved in the cover-up. Others have mentioned that she put messages supporting him on her social media accounts and then deleted them.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I am disappointed in both of them and especially Vanessa's behavior regarding Morgan Cipres.

Can someone update me, I was not able to follow a lot of figure skating news last year due to health issues. What did Vanessa do that has disappointed people? I guess it’s because she didn’t make a public comment condemning Morgan? Is that it

 

[overedge]

Of course I don’t approve of that situation, but I’ll let you know how many boos I hear at Nationals when they announce Vanessa and Eric as next to skate...fans are fans always looking for their next hero.

Not all fans think alike or act alike. I am pretty sure there are more than a few fans who don't want their "next hero" to be someone with the baggage that this pair is carrying.

 

[overedge]

I don't really care what you think. I'm hardly anonymous, but keep on with your assumptions and own ideas.

And you keep on with your claims that you heard things other people didn't.

 

[tony]

And you keep on with your claims that you heard things other people didn't.

What exactly have I claimed I heard in this thread that hasn't been verified by Meagan or Eric after the fact? Everything I have said has basically been said today afterwards by either Meagan or Eric themselves.

Let's not start lying to make your own assumptions seem true. Also, check your PMs since people are here to argue about Meagan, Eric, and Vanessa.

 

[jmtfti]

I think it's pretty telling that the CBC article saw it necessary to frame the timeline of the allegations/charges against Morgan like so:

But 2020 brought an unexpected twist: in September, Cipres suddenly retired from the sport in the midst of sexual abuse allegations. He has since been charged with a felony in his training state of Florida.

The situation blindsided James, leaving her without a partner just two years away from Beijing – which she figured would be her final Olympic Games. She had little choice but to retire too.

No technical lies there, but it's also deliberate weasel phrasing to avoid anything that might make the casual reader look askance at this situation, like how the news broke in 2019 and the incident(s) occurred long before J/C stopped skating together.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I think it's pretty telling that the CBC article saw it necessary to frame the timeline of the allegations/charges against Morgan like so:



No technical lies there, but it's also deliberate weasel phrasing to avoid anything that might make the casual reader look askance at this situation.

OK I’m trying to deduce the information on my own here ... so I guess what I did not know before is people said that Vanessa knew more about the allegations and did not do anything about it? I did not know about that part as I couldn’t follow figure skating a lot last year

 

[once_upon]

I suspect that neither side is being entirely truthful. But they are seeing things in their own bias and responding on social media rather than to each other.

I think, like many people who reached a high-level in their profession, Meagan "retired" at the top of her game. She probably had her life planned out. Shows, baby, coaching, maybe shows again. Then 2020 happened and effed up the plan.

I suspect what Eric has gone thru post Sochi wasn't the life he expected. No shows, if he is to be believed little income. An opportunity to skate with anew partner happened, and again if reports are to be believe and Meagan's sister in law was part of a coaching team, he probably assumed that the sister in laws talked. Also probably assumed Vanessa would never be released by France.

To me it's apparent that neither understood the verbal understanding and had different views that they thought the other agreed with. That happens in all relationships.

The time to have had the "talk" was back when Vanessa started skating with Eric in January (?). Either party could have talked/initiated the conversation. I suspect neither party thought release would happen. If it happened quicker than thought, I get the excitement to announce.

I fully admit to having negative feelings/thoughts torwards Meagan as I have considered her whiney in the past and she is very vocal on social media when things don't go the way she wants - most recently with a C-section rather than a "natural" birth. The first i read/heard about the Vanessa/Eric skating together was her social media post. Seemed like another rant when things didn't go her way.

Yeah - I'm not as connected as some if you and yeah covid has impacted my interest in skating this year. But I believe both or maybe lots of people including sister in law, other coaches, Vanessa missed opportunities to communicate.

what do I know

 

[Vagabond]

I suspect what Eric has gone thru post Sochi wasn't the life he expected. No shows, if he is to be believed little income.

IIRC, when Duhamel and Radford retired, he said that he intended to pursue a degree in Music. I assume that he intended to finance that and cover his and his husband's living expenses by doing shows and that he is adapting as best he can.

 

[misskarne]

I think it's pretty telling that the CBC article saw it necessary to frame the timeline of the allegations/charges against Morgan like so:



No technical lies there, but it's also deliberate weasel phrasing to avoid anything that might make the casual reader look askance at this situation, like how the news broke in 2019 and the incident(s) occurred long before J/C stopped skating together.

I agree. CBC is definitely trying to take advantage of the fact that Olympic viewers, or people who only know James from the Sound of Silence video, don't know what happened with Cipres. I imagine Skate Canada will also try and take advantage of this too. They'll be pitched for the Olympic press as "look at how wonderfully diverse we are - a gay man and a black woman!" (I wonder if Skate Canada apologised to Asher Hill yet?)

I hope Christine Brennan goes haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard....

OK I’m trying to deduce the information on my own here ... so I guess what I did not know before is people said that Vanessa knew more about the allegations and did not do anything about it? I did not know about that part as I couldn’t follow figure skating a lot last year

There are quite a lot of us who don't buy that she didn't know - that at the very least, she must have known about the cover-up, if not the actual incident.

But regardless of that, separate to that, once she knew, she continued to skate with him, continued to post supportive comments and likes on his social media. There has been no denouncement of his actions, no acknowledgement, hell, not even a cryptic statement supporting survivors or anything. Add to this that Cipres' own behaviour on social media has been downright awful - various posts after announcements of charges or the SafeSport sanctions being to the effect of "eh who gives a shit" - and the fact that she still clearly is friends with him and supports him absolutely reeks.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I agree. CBC is definitely trying to take advantage of the fact that Olympic viewers, or people who only know James from the Sound of Silence video, don't know what happened with Cipres. I imagine Skate Canada will also try and take advantage of this too. They'll be pitched for the Olympic press as "look at how wonderfully diverse we are - a gay man and a black woman!" (I wonder if Skate Canada apologised to Asher Hill yet?)

I hope Christine Brennan goes haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard....


There are quite a lot of us who don't buy that she didn't know - that at the very least, she must have known about the cover-up, if not the actual incident.

But regardless of that, separate to that, once she knew, she continued to skate with him, continued to post supportive comments and likes on his social media. There has been no denouncement of his actions, no acknowledgement, hell, not even a cryptic statement supporting survivors or anything. Add to this that Cipres' own behaviour on social media has been downright awful - various posts after announcements of charges or the SafeSport sanctions being to the effect of "eh who gives a shit" - and the fact that she still clearly is friends with him and supports him absolutely reeks.

Ahhhhhhh, ok. I did not know about any of that

All day today I was like, “what a wonderful opportunity for Vanessa.”

 

[Willin]

I think the biggest reasons people don't like James in relation to the Cipres situation are:
1. She continued to post stuff with him after he was accused, instead of the socially acceptable scrubbing him from her social media or at least not posting any further pictures
and
2. She's never condemned him or said even vague things about supporting survivors, which she can probably vaguepost or generally post about regardless of an NDA

There's also an argument to be had about whether or not she knew about Cipres and failed to report. Given that skating (and rinks in general) are insular and small communities where rumors and such spread like wildfire I wouldn't doubt she at least had a vague idea that something happened. Whether or not she knew the details or felt it credible enough to report is a different matter...

 

[Yuri]

Always fun to get the straight, no-holds-barred views from the Russian sports media...

У России — новые конкуренты на Олимпиаде? Канадцы ждут неоднозначную пару

Ванесса Джеймс и Эрик Редфорд вернутся в спорт ради борьбы за права темнокожих и меньшинств.

www.sport-express.ru

So does anyone have the made-for-TV rights for this you-just-can't-make-this-up new pairing? An outspoken, openly-gay but misogynistic (with the motherhood career comments) six-time National Champion, two-time World Champion and Olympic medalist tries out with a partner behind the back of his now-spurned former partner. And his new partner, herself also a multiple-time National Champion, European Champion, and World medalist, is available because her former partner is wanted by the authorities as a sexual pervert for...well, you know what. And the new partnership will be coached by the sister-in-law of the guy's ex-partner? Let's also throw in the very rare interracial on-ice partnership thing in a sport so straight-laced that it almost never happens, and she's an outspoken BLM supporter given current world events, but the apparent guilt-by-association with her ex-partner may sabotage her chance to succeed with a partner who seems to have blind-sided his ex-partner in a he-said/she-said!

I never thought that I would see another bizarre partner-switch situation that could rival the Grishuk/Platov and Usova/Zhulin mess but there's a ton of potential for this one! The 2021-22 pairs skating season was already going to be interesting, as it's wide-open with newly-crowned Russian champs who were the first to win a gold in their World's debut since Gordeeva/Grinkov. If these two make a serious podium run as North Americans challenging the Russians and Chinese, the media and ratings could be humongous!

 

[Judy]

((Raises hand.))) I’m on FB under a funny pseud, some people here know what it is. I never post or collect friends, I just need it professionally to see my org’s page and a few others. That was a deliberate choice because I never liked Facebook.

Twitter OTOH, I’m not only on under my own name but verified because if you’re a journalist or PRnik you just have to be.

I will never understand the point of Instagram but also have an account to supervise what my staff does.

Ha! I don’t get the point of instagram either lol.

 

[UMBS Go Blue]

All that gossipy stuff he put up earlier 100% did not come from her, but I'm fascinated to know who is spilling the beans about catty stuff like house parties. Someone within his circle is really angry, especially about Vanessa unfollowing Jonathan

Just curious - what was said or insinuated in this "gossipy stuff?"

 

[Judy]

Radford and James were Marcotte’s clients. Duhamel was not. Working in PR as you do, I’d expect you to understand that client confidentiality is something professionals are expected to maintain.

Uh no that’s betrayal. If a member of my family helped my professional partner leave me for a better deal, that would be the end of that relationship. Marcotte isn’t the only pairs coach in Canada, they could have gone elsewhere.

Ugh yes the family connection is going to be difficult to heal. It’s family ... yes skating is skating but I can’t blame Meghan on this one. I would have a hard time getting past that too.

 

[starrynight]

Just curious - what was said or insinuated in this "gossipy stuff?"

I think it was a tweet revealing that Papadakis/Cizeron caught rona at a gathering at Eric Radford’s house.

It was basically ‘rona shaming P/C and Radford just to give his detractors more ammunition.

 

[Frau Muller]

Well, now that we know that J/R is indeed a new Pairs team, I wish them the best. It’s a short time to become Olympic medalists...as Vanessa would come back for nothing less than a medal in Beijing 2022 (Pairs or Team discipline). So for this to be a triumphant new team, in the Pairs discipline, we’re talking being as good (or close to) three Russian and two Chinese pairs...in China.

My only hope is that J/R try to forge a distinct identity from the old “hyper-sexed, smoking dark-grey-unitard style” that reminds us of J/C. No 50 Shades of Grey, please; more along the lines of Ave Maria! (Just kidding but you get my point. J/C sold the “sex factor” a bit much. That was the French team’s calling card beside her lovely complexion.)

P.s. - As a sideshow in this circus: I’d love to know if Eric will still be creating music for Russian (in particular, Eteri camp) skaters this coming season? I confess that I quite enjoyed Kamila Valieva’s SP music this past season, composed by Eric Radford.

 

[skatfan]

deleted post

 

[feraina]

Eric radford points out something in his response that I hadn’t thought of: to meagan show skating is gravy on the side as she has a skating school. But to Eric it’s his primary source of income. So he needs it to be much more reliable and bigger scale than she does. As business partners their goals are not well aligned. It was a partnership bound to crack at some point unless Eric can find his own primary source of income and thus not rely on this partnership as much. Maybe he realized that he was not going to make a living on music either. Maybe he thinks going to another Olympics puts him in a better position for career prospects in the future. His post gives me the impression that he maybe felt some resentment toward meagan about making all these life and career plans without him in the picture, and clearly not putting him high on her priority list, and he felt he had to fend for himself. Often fights come about because of a lack of communication (how things are now playing out on social media strongly suggests they’re indeed not good at communicating with each other directly). Resentments build up over time and then suddenly you’re no longer good friends anymore. I feel bad for both of them. I hope they can find grace and closure and hopefully regain their friendship at some point. Also wishing Eric and Vanessa the best! I’m curious to see how this new pairing will look on ice!

 

[Lemonade20]

Eric radford points out something in his response that I hadn’t thought of: to meagan show skating is gravy on the side as she has a skating school. But to Eric it’s his primary source of income. So he needs it to be much more reliable and bigger scale than she does. As business partners their goals are not well aligned. It was a partnership bound to crack at some point unless Eric can find his own primary source of income and thus not rely on this partnership as much. Maybe he realized that he was not going to make a living on music either. Maybe he thinks going to another Olympics puts him in a better position for career prospects in the future. His post gives me the impression that he maybe felt some resentment toward meagan about making all these life and career plans without him in the picture, and clearly not putting him high on her priority list, and he felt he had to fend for himself. Often fights come about because of a lack of communication (how things are now playing out on social media strongly suggests they’re indeed not good at communicating with each other directly). Resentments build up over time and then suddenly you’re no longer good friends anymore. I feel bad for both of them. I hope they can find grace and closure and hopefully regain their friendship at some point. Also wishing Eric and Vanessa the best! I’m curious to see how this new pairing will look on ice!

Perfectly said.