USA Today: NBC commentators Tara Lipinski, Johnny Weir participate in vulgar video spoof of U.S. Olympian

I think there’s two main issues that need to be discussed here:

1. I personally think Tara and Johnny’s skit was stupid and unnecessary. They’re not just two casual fans cracking jokes; they’re professional commentators who have a responsibility to be respectful and reasonably unbiased in their critiques. Also, I get the impression that Bradie wasn’t informed that the footage was going to be used. It would be fine if Bradie signed a contract saying “sure, let’s make a funny video using footage of me!”, but it seems like the network did it without her consent, and that doesn’t sit right with me. It was just very unprofessional.

2. I have a lot of mixed feelings about Christine Brennan. On one hand, I applaud her for using her platform to call attention to major issues in sports, like the John Coughlin and Morgan Cipres sexual assault cases. She’s not afraid to write about taboo topics, and I think she genuinely thinks she’s doing the right thing.
However, some of her pieces are based on trivial pieces of gossip rather than a major story, and others rely more on her own personal opinions than actual facts. For example, her articles about the Russian state-sponsored doping felt rather biased, one-sided, and insensitive to me. Also, I remember she recently wrote an article that started off by calling out Johnny Weir’s insensitive tweet about the Black Lives Matter movement, then randomly threw in the fact that Plushenko had been seen wearing a shirt with Putin’s face on it. It’s one thing to write a personal blog where you share all your opinions on every little thing that happens in the skating world, but she’s getting paid for these articles because she’s one of the main journalists for USA Today. When you’re a nonfiction columnist for a major news agency, you need to maintain a certain level of neutrality and professionalism, and I think Brennan sometimes crosses that line. I wish she would focus her voice on fighting larger issues, like systemic racism or corruption in sport, rather than unimportant facts about retired skaters. She has the power to help people with her words, and I hope she can channel it into causes that matter.
 
I saw the skit on her instagram. It was kind of odd but it was more about the two non skaters making fun of themselves, IRRC nothing was directed at Bradley.
 
I think this is stupid, but "vulgar?" Over camel toe and quads?

People have said some awful and unfair things about Tennell on various boards. IMO, those comments (which I won't repeat) are a lot worse than making a camel toe joke.
 
I think another major issue among the others posters have brought up is the fact that Banks and Johnny/Tara were playing into that bitchy commentary persona that was "in-character" for the film Pitch Perfect but used a clip where Tennell was actually competing in earnest and with all seriousness at the Olympic games. It'd be one thing if Tennell was in on the skit and did a new "performance" that was made for the skit, like how the actors performing in Pitch Perfect are performing in-character to fit that sort of commentary. So to minimize Tennell's actual Olympic skate that she worked her whole life to qualifying for with some sexual-tinted jokes is just bad optics. Of course, skating fandom is known for its snark and at-times bitchiness so I can see why people may not see what the big deal is either. It's like a culture clash that's been brewing. Younger skating fans are moving away from that sort of culture. They are also much more cognizant and conditioned to hear things that are inappropriate because they're the ones who, as a group, are the most vocal in fighting back against the culture of sexualizing athletes (many of whom are minors) and how it has harmed athletes and continue to do so.
 
UGG said:
I saw the skit on her instagram. It was kind of odd but it was more about the two non skaters making fun of themselves, IRRC nothing was directed at Bradley.
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Who is Bradley? I know that the woman who started this thread, the seasoned Miss Brenda Bottems, had a torrid fling with a Greek multimillionaire shipping magnate named Bradley Papaposolou, but I don't believe Mr. Weir or Ms. Lipinski would be familiar with him.
 
Aerobicidal said:
Who is Bradley? I know that the woman who started this thread, the seasoned Miss Brenda Bottems, had a torrid fling with a Greek multimillionaire shipping magnate named Bradley Papaposolou, but I don't believe Mr. Weir or Ms. Lipinski would be familiar with him.
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During my Diet Coke years, I was a bit of a fridge magnet if that counts for anything.
 
I can't tell if this thread is just trolling or if there is any actual outrage over something so mild.

overedge said:
..When I saw it, I wondered why Tara and Johnny would do this, especially when the footage was a current competitor. But then I wondered if they had to do it as some sort of NBC promotional/contractual thing, and whether they even saw any footage when they did their commentary. I.e. they were just handed a script and told to read it.
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This is how it reads to me.

Dumb humor, but hardly anything to get upset about.
 
essence_of_soy said:
I vaguely remember how Ms Brennan laughed off her ban because it was during the off-season, too. She presented her editor with a blank piece of paper, saying there had actually been nothing to report.
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IMO she was entirely justified in laughing at it, because she had notified USFS(A) of what was in the book, and they didn't express any problems with the material prior to the book's publication.
 
Ita about using stock footage; otherwise I don’t care. The joke isn’t on Bradie in this.
 
Yeah the jokes in the video sound lame, but it is nasty to make Bradie Tennell the subject of the joke. Humor is a lot less funny when the joke teller is punching down, making someone less powerful the butt of a joke.

Fine, Tara and Johnny are known for somewhat risque and silly commentary. If the used clips of themselves, and made jokes about wedgies and camel toes...might be funny.

Instead they took a cheap shot at someone else.
 
Louis said:
I think this is stupid, but "vulgar?" Over camel toe and quads?

People have said some awful and unfair things about Tennell on various boards. IMO, those comments (which I won't repeat) are a lot worse than making a camel toe joke.
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In all fairness, the vulgarity according to the article had to do with a woman's body part and people who say awful unfair things about BT are not doing commentary during her competition programs for NBC.

I haven't seen the video, so I cannot make any other assessment about it but it does sound like a lack of professionalism on the part of JW and TL as well as any other NBC contributors.
 
viennese said:
Yeah the jokes in the video sound lame, but it is nasty to make Bradie Tennell the subject of the joke. Humor is a lot less funny when the joke teller is punching down, making someone less powerful the butt of a joke.

Fine, Tara and Johnny are known for somewhat risque and silly commentary. If the used clips of themselves, and made jokes about wedgies and camel toes...might be funny.

Instead they took a cheap shot at someone else.
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you’re right on that.They tried to be funny but it didn’t come off as funny to me. It’s never okay to sexualize someone. They need to find a fresh angle
 
overedge said:
IMO she was entirely justified in laughing at it, because she had notified USFS(A) of what was in the book, and they didn't express any problems with the material prior to the book's publication.
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That she was able to hustle the USFSA, proves what a manipulative schemer La Brennan is, and this interest in the sport is nothing more than feeding into her own ego.

I bet the USFSA is probably thinking, 'Burn us once, you're an idiot. Burn us twice, we're the idiots.'
 
I'm disappointed that two commentators in a sport that has brought them relative fame, power and position, would risk denigrating themselves and their craft in this way.

They're behaving like a couple of A Group tweens sitting at the back of the bus.

If you're going to do this, Tara and Johnny, save it for cocktails hour in the privacy of your own homes.
 
Tony Wheeler said:

Interesting letter from Loosemore and Kestnbaum who were two huge leaders of the early skating presence on the internet in the 90s.

(Not to derail the thread any more than it already is, just found this interesting while looking around)
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Fascinating letter. 25 years on and Ms Brennan hasn't got any better.

I miss Sandra Loosemore's page and reasoned commentary. She was my first link into the online world of figure skating, too.
 
essence_of_soy said:
That she was able to hustle the USFSA, proves what a manipulative schemer La Brennan is, and this interest in the sport is nothing more than feeding into her own ego.

I bet the USFSA is probably thinking, 'Burn us once, you're an idiot. Burn us twice, we're the idiots.'
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She was under no obligation to tell the USFSA what was in her book. She did them a favor by letting them know in advance, and they are the ones who blew it by making a fuss only after the book came out. I completely disagree that she was manipulative or a schemer in this situation.
 
overedge said:
She was under no obligation to tell the USFSA what was in her book. She did them a favor by letting them know in advance, and they are the ones who blew it by making a fuss only after the book came out. I completely disagree that she was manipulative or a schemer in this situation.
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25 years on and well, here we are.
 
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