A few thoughts, most of which have probably been already posted in the same or different words.
First- the trolling happening on social media against the skaters and others who choose to remember John in the only (positive) ways they knew him is obviously absolutely ridiculous. No one knows any details about this case (aside from the people who initially reported him), and none of us have been presented with any evidence. I really hate that people can hide behind usernames sometimes, because a quick look at the KMT basher's profile shows they have 0 posts (no photos, nothing) and probably just enjoy stirring things up with comments such as that.
The world is quick to judge people based on their appearance and their likability factor, or lack thereof. There are certain people involved in this sport that I guarantee, if some minute detail such as an 'under investigation' flag came out, many people even on this board would IMMEDIATELY believe the absolute worst just because of their preconceptions and say things like 'That's no surprise' or 'I knew it!!'. But is that fair to do? Nope.
Then there are those who we say 'No, they never could have done anything bad' because of preconceptions. The point is that you never know what is going on inside someone's head regardless of any traits that might be displayed out in the open-- whether the intentions are really good-spirited or in fact very evil.
Christine Blasey Ford didn't win in her efforts against Brett Kavanaugh, but we saw nearly the entire public find her story to be credible from the beginning because she was well-spoken. Kavanaugh did no favors during some of the hearings with his outbursts, but those alone, nor Blasey Ford's credibility factor == guilty. Some people may see that as a man versus woman thing and taking sides or choosing to allow the sexual assault culture to exist or whatever, but we just CAN'T assume anything-- ever.
Anyways, there's a lot of TSL hate through these threads and by now most everyone knows I am no big fan of the message Dave is spreading about the sport he supposedly loves so much. He's always taken the Perez Hilton/TMZ route, but from what I've seen, I don't think anything was really over the line this time. Comments such as a few weeks ago telling everyone to go look up Vincent Restencourt's past record, though, go back to that 'I know something and I want you to know that I know it' and that's what bothers me, as are previous comments he (back in the days with Jenny) made regarding skaters and their physical conditions. I know he's still in touch with former skaters/parents/people in the sport that have a chips on their shoulders for one reason or another, and a lot of his information seems to come from those very people that just want to take everyone else/the USFSA/the sport down and want in on all the gossip.
As a final note, John Coughlin was scheduled to preview US Nationals with me on my own Youtube channel-- something that had been discussed prior to any of this coming out. RIP.
