The Skating Lesson

[jmtfti]

Everyone is sharing it on their Insta Stories, including various Canadian and European skaters active and retired. I exaggerate, but I just counted shares from 20 different current or retired ice dancers and pairs skaters/coaches I follow, including Christina Carreira, Kaitlin Hawayek, Jean-Luc Baker, Kirsten Moore-Towers, Marjorie Lajoie, Zachary Lagha, Carolane Soucisse, Alicia Fabbri, Asher Hill, and Romain Haguenauer.

 

[ninjapirate]

Those predicting that this is the end for the skating lesson - I disagree. He came back from having death threats about the Coughlin situation.

David lives on the edge; that’s what he likes, and that’s what we get.

I doubt he's gone, but he's never been more vulnerable. He's making good money on his Patreon which relies on copyrighted material. If the USFS wanted to, they could make an issue of that and force his Patreon into being something far fewer people would pay for.

I only find TSL interesting for the gossip and I don't really see a replacement for that. Everyone else is either too tied with USFS or has no contacts. Maybe something else would emerge.

 

[On My Own]

I doubt he's gone, but he's never been more vulnerable. He's making good money on his Patreon which relies on copyrighted material. If the USFS wanted to, they could make an issue of that and force his Patreon into being something far fewer people would pay for.

I only find TSL interesting for the gossip and I don't really see a replacement for that. Everyone else is either too tied with USFS or has no contacts. Maybe something else would emerge.

Lease is not going to end up with ties after this, imo.

It would be interesting if they made it hard for him to post copyrighted content.

 

[zigzig]

Ugh - I'm going to miss their throwback 90s club videographer videos at the lower levels from more insidery skaters that only people who were there would know about. That was the the best thing about them.

 

[Carolla5501]

I knew him personally back in my New York days, and both he and his family did receive death threats. I saw them with my own eyes. Unless he sent them to himself, they were real. That’s not excusing anything he has done now.

Well he's going to be really unhappy now. I am sure he's getting them but maybe it will keep his mouth SHUT for a while. (But considering his desire for attention, I would not put anything past him.

I have always been amazed that fans were willing to overlook some totally racist statements he made in the past. And some of you probably will keep right on listening (and paying Patreon) even after this... it's just amazing to me. After all "let's listen for gossip, facts are so overrated"

 

[Firedancer]

Statement from Dave Lease this morning:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1898025980238696495

 

[Wyliefan]

He's still trying to justify himself and shift the blame. He needs to take a long hard look at what he did and simply say, "I was wrong. No excuses. I'm sorry, and I'll never do anything like that again." I hope for his sake he's able to do it.

 

[Karen-W]

Statement from Dave Lease this morning:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1898025980238696495

So, in the statement, he says he is stepping away from the sport & social media to reflect & reevaluate.

It is only a matter of time before he is back to commentating - I give it approximately 10 months.

 

[On My Own]

He's still trying to justify himself and shift the blame. He needs to take a long hard look at what he did and simply say, "I was wrong. No excuses. I'm sorry, and I'll never do anything like that again." I hope for his sake he's able to do it.

He is saying, however, that it's time for him to take a step back from the sport and social media, so here's to hoping.

 

[Amy L]

If he meant that skating is so bad nothing justifies the sacrifice, maybe don't say "they weren't that talented". Perhaps it came across as calling dead kids untalented because he literally said that?? Funny how words work huh

 

[Rukia]

if he really cared about the "high price" of children in sports he would have done some proper research and made a separate series, not called some recently deceased kids "not that good"

 

[Private Citizen]

It is only a matter of time before he is back to commentating - I give it approximately 10 months.

I would've said two weeks .

The whole clip was weird. It isn't as if skaters signed up to be in a plane crash or deliberately engaged in dangerous behavior.

If you want to have discussions about whether it's worth it re: an eating disorder, a broken leg from overtraining, falling while practicing a pair lift, etc., then maybe it applies. But a freak plane crash that could've just easily happened to any of us? It's all weird.

 

[Tinycities]

if he really cared about the "high price" of children in sports he would have done some proper research and made a separate series, not called some recently deceased kids "not that good"

His timing of when to bring up some fairly valid concerns was pretty horrific.

Hope he sticks to taking a break and disabling all social media because he mentally seems to be in a pretty poor place if that’s where his grieving took him. I’m sure the comments on social media now will not help.

 

[ilovepaydays]

I still think that Lease doesn’t understand that a person not having the highest “ability” or “potential” in an activity doesn’t mean it’s a waste, problematic, or abusive that they spend so much time and $$$$ in that activity.

There can be, unfortunately, unhealthy or abusive environments in any activity with children involved. But those issues have nothing to do with the talent of the person. And it also has nothing to do with having a moment of grieving over some beautiful people who have passed away.

 

[Karen-W]

I would've said two weeks .

LOL. If this was a normal 'foot in my mouth' incident rather than musing over the cost of elite sports while watching a benefit show for the lives lost in a tragic plane incident, then two weeks would have been my estimate as well. We're almost at the off-season and the frequency of his TSL vlogs drops off substantially during that time frame every year. Realistically, he could stay quiet for the next 6 months with not many people noticing his absence. But, if he came back in September during the Challengers or even October with the start of the GP, I think he'd get a LOT of push back. Delaying a few more months makes more sense, since 10 months is, conveniently enough, when US Nats 2026 is scheduled to begin.

 

[On My Own]

I do want to point out something that's been brought up on social media over this, and I think there's some merit in it, is that the USFSA would absolutely want to take down one of the few people who's been hunting down evidence of abuse in the American system.

 

[Wyliefan]

That very well may be. But they didn't take him down. He took himself down. Skaters and fans were livid at him over this before the USFSA said anything.

 

[On My Own]

He took himself down. Skaters and fans were livid at him over this before the USFSA said anything.

On the other hand, think of all the other abusers in the sport they've stayed silent over. There's merit to the idea that they chose this moment to speak up, because they saw gold.

Lease should have vanished a long time ago for legitimate reasons, and the sport needs much better advocates and has done for a long time, I just don't necessarily trust the reasons as to why USFSA seems to have spoken up over this.

 

[skatfan]

Isn't there a proverb that goes something like: "Don't get in the way of your opponent taking themselves down."?

David will be back sooner than one thinks. It's the Olympic season! Unless he decides to stop completely. His content these days consists of a lot of hate for the direction of the sport.

 

[On My Own]

Isn't there a proverb that goes something like: "Don't get in the way of your opponent taking themselves down."?

Apparently so, and it's not a thought that fills me with delight. I wish I could say USFSA are acting in good faith, but I don't really, and just really wish the sport had better advocates, because Dave 100% deserves to go.

I don't really know if he will or won't return, but I do doubt he'll get many people speaking with him now. And there's always been little to no value to his actual skating knowledge (like the actual skating - I couldn't care less about who kissed whom in 1991), IMO, so that audience is going to vanish sooner or later.

 

[Allskate]

That was a crap "apology." He's sorry that the clip hurt people. No real accountability. And he's still pretending like skaters and their parents made a conscious choice to pursue skating at the risk of dying and still speaking in terms of talent, all of which is nonsense. I don't know who would buy this "apology" rather than just having it confirm that he is awful.

Of course he'll come back.

 

[jmtfti]

On the other hand, think of all the other abusers in the sport they've stayed silent over. There's merit to the idea that they chose this moment to speak up, because they saw gold.

Lease should have vanished a long time ago for legitimate reasons, and the sport needs much better advocates and has done for a long time, I just don't necessarily trust the reasons as to why USFSA seems to have spoken up over this.

An interesting additional data point is that some of the other skaters who have shared USFS's post are Laurence Fournier Beaudry, Guillaume Cizeron, and Isabella Flores.

Considering his commentary going all the way back to the AJ days, I've been routinely dismayed by the access many in skating have continued to give him, and he absolutely deserves blowback for these remarks. At the same time, I'm enough of a cynic to notice what some of those in the sport are and are not willing to condemn.

 

[Rukia]

And he's still pretending like skaters and their parents made a conscious choice to pursue skating at the risk of dying and still speaking in terms of talent, all of which is nonsense.

that's another good point because what extreme risk were these people taking?? they were on an airplane like a bajillion other people that day

 

[Wyliefan]

An interesting additional data point is that some of the other skaters who have shared USFS's post are Laurence Fournier Beaudry, Guillaume Cizeron, and Isabella Flores.

Considering his commentary going all the way back to the AJ days, I've been routinely dismayed by the access many in skating have continued to give him, and he absolutely deserves blowback for these remarks. At the same time, I'm enough of a cynic to notice what those in the sport are and are not willing to condemn.

Yahli Pedersen wrote her own story absolutely HAMMERING him. I'd type it out here, but it's two paragraphs long. The gist of it is that he's been lying and tearing skaters down for years, that he has no accountability, and that he needs to face the consequences of his actions.

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[kwanfan1818]

I guess those trips to Disneyland are off the table.

 

[Jarrett]

Statement from Dave Lease this morning:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1898025980238696495

He is such a coward. He knows what he said. He knows what he meant. To say anything different just backpedaling.

 

[On My Own]

An interesting additional data point is that some of the other skaters who have shared USFS's post are Laurence Fournier Beaudry, Guillaume Cizeron, and Isabella Flores.

I think people need to recognize that, in this case, a few disparate things can be true at the same time.

 

[On My Own]

Just to hammer home the point I'm trying to make, there is some reddit/twitter drama that's going on where an Ivan Desyatov fan was attacking a moderator on Reddit for "being Dave Lease" and making Reddit toxic by "letting misinformation spread". Like quite literally accusing the mod as an alt of DL's, because Desyatov was skewered there, and DL himself had a hand in that expose.

I don't for one moment believe all the backlash Lease is getting right now is in good faith.

Some/most? Maybe. But not all.

 

[Tinycities]

Just to hammer home the point I'm trying to make, there is some reddit/twitter drama that's going on where an Ivan Desyatov fan was attacking a moderator on Reddit for "being Dave Lease" and making Reddit toxic by "letting misinformation spread".

I don't for one moment believe all the backlash Lease is getting right now is in good faith.

Some/most? Maybe. But not all.

I saw that Twitter user, they also reported Dave to safesport for reporting on the whole Desyatov thing.

 

[Wyliefan]

I don't for one moment believe all the backlash Lease is getting right now is in good faith.

Some/most? Maybe. But not all.

I really don't see why that's important. In any backlash that's ever happened, there were likely some people who weren't acting in good faith. Does that delegitimize the backlash, or make the inciting offense any better if it was a genuine offense? No.