U.S. Ladies [#25]: Method in the Madness

[Andora]

After seeing some of the craziness of fans on youtube following Yuna incidents and near misses, I would not skate in an ATS show if I were Mariah.

Fair enough.

 

[barbarafan]

Wow, I’m really disappointed in this mess. Because the allegations were originally brought by an agent/management company they are suspect right from the start. Such actions are not their role. Particularly when financial gain is at stake. The Korean federation should have been the only entity to speak for Eunsoo. It’s too bad for me as a fan of both of these ladies. It will now color my view of Eunsoo going forward unfortunately. I do think she may need to leave the RAF training camp after this nightmare she or those around her with bad judgement caused. I was a fan of Yuna Kim too but the over zealous Korean fans of hers really turned me off. I think this will backfire on Eunsoo. Obviously she wasn’t that affected by the blade incident because she skated a perfect short program. She was obligated to get out of Mariah’s way during her run through. It’s even possible she was trying to hamper Mariah’s run through. All skaters know it is your obligation to do whatever it takes to get out of the way of someone doing a run through.With Mariah and Eunsoo so closely matched I wonder if there is a motive to take Mariah out or at least psych her out. I’m sure NBC will now talk about it on the broadcast. Sad turn of events!

Go get help!!

 

[barbarafan]

Rafe has already said he knew nothing about any bullying issue. It’s possible there are language issues too. If Eun So has an issue with a training mate.

The first thing her and her team should do is take it up with the coach before you know creating an international incident. That’s how adults handle things.

No one would want that and apparently there is no video of this crash and we are creating an international incident?

I don’t know any of these girls but I do think it is wrong to create an incident without first trying to settle the problem privately and already ATS was dishonest if Mariah was on warning coach would know about it.

I think society in general is far to quick to get offended.

There is a video of the incident. I have not seen it. Ksu states you cannot tell if an accident or deliberate.

 

[Inessence]

The Washington Post has updated their article (same link as above) and it also no longer includes any tweets or anything about tweets.

‘No evidence’ American figure skater deliberately slashed a South Korean competitor

Good. There are literally IG posts calling Bell a “murderer” and other craziness. Social media is not a great source for content.

 

[zoe111]

Gosh, it's not like Lim standing in the middle of the rink. She was at the board and Bell came from her behind. If people can't even acknowledge who's in the wrong of the incident itself, I have to say there's nothing left to say really.

Eunsoo has a requirement to get out of the way of a skater running a program on practice irrespective of which patch of the ice she's on - middle or boards. The only excuse for contact is if Eunsoo made an effort to get out of the way and wan't able to - which is not my understanding. There is nothing else to say here. I'm sure Mariah is sorry if Eunsoo was hurt, but it's not her fault, and she has the right of way.

 

[Tinami Amori]

So it looks like Raf is also denying that there has even been any issue in terms of training between Mariah and Eunsoo (but I will agree with people who have said that Raf could have been unaware of other things going on, but it seems like he would be aware if it had escalated to the point of separate schedules, etc.). Annnddd now the story is on Newsweek and on TMZ with the headline "US Figure Skater Accused of Slashing Korean Rival".
on edit: I saw a different translation where he said they were never at odds "at the practices" vs the "at the training sessions", so not sure if he means training in CA or practice sessions for worlds...

This is what Raf said in the interview, word for word.

"Дело в том, что у Мэрайи в этом месте программы движение, которым она очень сильно отводит назад ногу и вытягивает ее. Вот и получилось, что лезвием конька она слегка чиркнула по голени Ынсу Лим. Разумеется, это было не намеренно", - сказал Арутюнян корреспонденту агентства.

"Никаких разногласий между этими спортсменками в тренировке у меня вообще ни разу не случалось. Да и потом, вы же видели Мэрайю. Разве эта девочка способна кого-то обидеть? Не представляю, кому могло вообще прийти в голову написать такое".

"It happens to be so, that Mariah in the part of her programme has a movement, where she has to swiftly pull her leg back and stretch it. And so that is what happened, the blade of her skate slightly cut (striked) En-soo's shin. Naturally, it was not intentional".

"No disagreements between these two skaters ever took place during my practices (at the home rink he means). And overall, you've seen what Mariah is like. Does it look like she is capable of hurting anyone? Can't imagine who would even think of writing something like this".

 

[becca]

There is a video of the incident. I have not seen it. Ksu states you cannot tell if an accident or deliberate.

I mainly meant it seems like fans are blaming Mariah without even seeing the video.

 

[natsulian]

Social media is the toilet of the Internet, constantly canceling individuals without sound proof or evidence, then backpedaling when the evidence comes out. Mariah needs to take time away from social media, put herself on private, stop posting, let the media storm die down, and talk to Eunsoo.

To rebuild her brand, Bell would be smart to not be too vocal, but draw the line and be ready to answer any media questions about the incident. You bet once Bell’s back on home soil, NBC and other news outlets will be on her tails.

I want to thank everyone who helped each other to be patient, not judge, and wait for the investigation. I also want to thank the people who sent Mariah death threats and instantly thought Eunsoo was doing it out of self-interest. You just tore down professional women and pit them against each other for the sake of drama. Good job. How great must you feel?

 

[JamieElena]

very grainy video of the incident here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_re1kAagKQ&feature=em-uploademail

It doesn't look like Mariah realized she'd clipped Lim.

 

[becca]

very grainy video of the incident here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_re1kAagKQ&feature=em-uploademail

It doesn't look like Mariah realized she'd clipped Lim.

Seems to me Lim wasn’t paying attention. I mean it was accident. I do want to say we don’t know if anything this is Lim speaking. Not sure if leaving that management company would work well for her in Korea.

 

[JamieElena]

Seems to me Lim wasn’t paying attention.

It's certainly not a "STABBING". The video may be grainy, but I see no evidence of deliberate kicking and stabbing.

 

[oleada]

very grainy video of the incident here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_re1kAagKQ&feature=em-uploademail

It doesn't look like Mariah realized she'd clipped Lim.

Plus Mariah was during her run-through and has right of way and was clearly focused on her program.

 

[JamieElena]

Plus Mariah was during her run-through and has right of way and was clearly focused on her program.

And obviously....because of physics, it wasn't a very hard clip/slash whatever you want to call it, because if it was, it would've thrown Bell off balance.

 

[zoe111]

Plus Mariah was during her run-through and has right of way and was clearly focused on her program.

I posted this in the other thread but the practice rules are run through skater has right of way and all other skaters have the responsibility to know where that run through skater is and get out of the way. This is technically Eunsoo ‘s fault as she had her back turned to a run through skater

 

[natsulian]

Can someone please send the major news outlets who alleged that Mariah “stabbed” Eunsoo the video? This is defamation of character and the allegations that Eunsoo’s agency made are now proven to be false, aside from the ones about bullying. Eunsoo needs to leave the toxic agency. I feel SO bad for her. I can’t imagine the psychological torture both ladies are going through. It seems Japanese fans are backing both Mariah and Eunsoo, so I’m hoping the crowd can elevate their spirits tomorrow.

GO OUT THERE AND DO AMAZINGLY WELL AND SHUT UP ALL THE HATERS, LADIES! BOTH OF YOU ARE AMAZING AND WONDERFUL!

 

[UGG]

Omg the video Lim is clearly in the way and it’s an accident.

 

[Spun Silver]

Can someone please send the major news outlets who alleged that Mariah “stabbed” Eunsoo the video? This is defamation of character and the allegations that Eunsoo’s agency made are now proven to be false, aside from the ones about bullying. Eunsoo needs to leave the toxic agency. I feel SO bad for her. I can’t imagine the psychological torture both ladies are going through. It seems Japanese fans are backing both Mariah and Eunsoo, so I’m hoping the crowd can elevate their spirits tomorrow.

GO OUT THERE AND DO AMAZINGLY WELL AND SHUT UP ALL THE HATERS, LADIES! BOTH OF YOU ARE AMAZING AND WONDERFUL!

I'm happy to hear it seems the Japanese fans are behind both skaters! I hope they both feel the support and skate their best.

 

[Karen-W]

I just commented in the other thread that this has now made it onto Fox News' afternoon broadcast. Pretty even-handed reporting which included the ISU statement on the incident. I was most amused by the expression on Shepherd Smith's face as he tried (and failed) at pronouncing Eunsoo Lim's name correctly not once but twice. The teleprompter was not his friend, lol. And he also looked rather incredulous that he was reporting a figure skating "scandal" story. He managed to get his professional demeanor back by the end of the mini-report.

 

[Skittl1321]

Can someone please send the major news outlets who alleged that Mariah “stabbed” Eunsoo the video? This is defamation of character and the allegations that Eunsoo’s agency made are now proven to be false, aside from the ones about bullying. Eunsoo needs to leave the toxic agency. I feel SO bad for her. I can’t imagine the psychological torture both ladies are going through. It seems Japanese fans are backing both Mariah and Eunsoo, so I’m hoping the crowd can elevate their spirits tomorrow.

GO OUT THERE AND DO AMAZINGLY WELL AND SHUT UP ALL THE HATERS, LADIES! BOTH OF YOU ARE AMAZING AND WONDERFUL!

What news outlet alleged that Mariah stabbed Eunsoo? I've only seen news outlets post that she has been accused of stabbing Eunsoo. Very different, on who is doing the accusing.


But the accusation at all, having now seen the incident, is ridiculous. The Korean federation had said “At this stage, we can’t conclude Bell caused the injury on purpose". Well yeah, you certainly can't- because all she was doing was skating her program. Turning and extending the leg is something 95% of them do. And Eunsoo wasn't paying attention to where she was on the ice.

 

[CassAgain]

Longing for the good ol' days of just worrying about Mariah's lack of a 3/3 in the free.

 

[UGG]

Longing for the good ol' days of just worrying about Mariah's lack of a 3/3 in the free.

Seems like just yesterday. Oh wait...

 

[Badams]

I'm not painting anyone evil here. I'm simply saying it's self-centered and bad-mannered of Bell to not apologize in person for the incident.

Looks like Lim should be the one to apologize, as she obviously interfered with Bell's run through. Preferably through much publicized media, since they've done a damn good job of creating a bad reputation for Bell.

 

[AxelAnnie]

Longing for the good ol' days of just worrying about Mariah's lack of a 3/3 in the free.

LOL! Who ever could have predicted that we would be discussing Mariah attacking another skater? It is absurd.

 

[Teamgracie]

Knew this was trash but I feel terrible for Mariah! This world is a mess with what is going on with crazies just posting crap and people believing they somehow have the right to go on and type in cruel, extreme statements. Well I hope both skaters can somehow do their best, unlikely at this point. I’d like to see raf come out with a very strong statement. But no one can undo the harm that has been done and it’s so sad.

Mariah skate with fire, go girl

 

[skateboy]

I'm not defending ATS here. I just find it's odd that people are standing by Bell when it's true that she indeed caused harm to someone and not apologized IN PERSON.If she did that at the first time, nothing would happened. So she's the starting point of all this mess.

How are you so sure that Mariah didn't apologize? Do we really know that for sure?

 

[starrynight]

I don't understand why people seem to think the motive behind this was financial? I can't see someone saying, "Oh that girl who said she was intentionally cut is performing- let's buy a ticket". Or companies like Samsung or LG decides to sponsor her after all this drama. Doesn't make sense to me.

I've seen similar things done before in other sports. You create a drama around an athlete, pick a rival to be 'the villain', get them in the media, spin up a big rivalry thing, get everyone watching to see if they beat the villain at the comp, after the comp put the athlete on the media circuit at home to talk about the rivalry, raise the profile of the athlete, make them more recognisable and in demand and then collect the profits of increased sponsorships, appearances etc.

It's more of a long game thing than immediate results. It's about getting people at home to recognise the athlete. Which has certainly worked because news publications who otherwise would never have even mentioned these skaters names are publishing articles.

Sort of like how sometimes fake controversies are started when singers release film clips to songs in order to get the media talking about their new release and to mobilise fans to defend their favourite singer's work. Seen that happen with Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift film clips before.

For Mariah, what ends up being the end result here is how well her managers (if she has them) can prepare her response to this. It may be that she could do some media appearances at home when it's all over and actually spin this into a positive thing for her.

 

[Skittl1321]

How are you so sure that Mariah didn't apologize? Do we really know that for sure?

I think one of the press releases said she issued an apology through USFS. So at least in the official statement, it did not happen directly.

If Raf coaches's both of them, I have a hard time believing they wouldn't actually speak to each other, but maybe he is keeping them apart?

 

[natsulian]

I think this has either lit Mariah or dimmed her. We’ll see tomorrow. Come on, girl! You got this! Show the haters up!

 

[barbarafan]

How are you so sure that Mariah didn't apologize? Do we really know that for sure?

Re:the meeting...US skating spoke to Mariah about what happened and she told them she did not know she had hit Ensoo Lim so if she did not know she hit her it makes sense that she did not stop and make sure Eunsoo was ok. She asked US skating to pass on apology for her and said there would be a meeting after the free skate.

 

[Jammers]

Social media is a cancer of society and the people on it are the real bullies with their social justice whining calling anyone who disagrees with them racists. Facts are not needed on social media just hysteria. It's the wild wild west and the mob rules. Do these people even live in the real world?