It's not uncommon to see a gay man exhibit blatant homophobia, especially one who desperately needs attention; but even so, I was shocked and appalled by the video of former figure skater and out television personality and commentator Mark Lund ripping three-time National Champion Johnny Weir a new one. So now, I will do the same to him.
A recent special aired on which Mark Lund, Nancy Kerrigan (yes, go on and roll your eyes - I did too), and Lou Tilley weighed in on the upcoming U.S. Figure Skating National Championship, and decided to compare young up and comers Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir. Throughout the program, Lund repeatedly and vehemently criticized Johnny for being flamboyantly gay - except without really saying those exact words.
Here is the video of the infamous appearance:
"I just can't get over just how overly out he is without saying he's out." Uhh, are we forgetting Mr. Z-List Has-Been that you weren't out at Johnny's age either?
"I just don't think he's representative of the community I want to be a part of." What the hell are you even talking about? The gay community wouldn't want to have a member of it be a three-time U.S. champion and one of the most celebrated male figure skaters since Brian Boitano? Not to mention the fact that Johnny has never actually said he's gay anyway, insisting that his private life stay his private life. He never asked to be a poster boy for anyone.
But anyone with two ears and a brain can figure out Lund is obviously referring to Johnny's femininity, of which he clearly disapproves.Later in the program he says, "Lysacek has a classical elegance and masculinity on the ice that I think we need to see in male figure skating. I'm sorry. I don't need to see a prima ballerina on the ice."
What do you mean? Are you forgetting the dozens of effeminate male figure skaters that came before Johnny who were largely successful and beloved by fans of the sport? As sure as I stand, Lund is surely dealing with a ridiculous amount of self-hatred. "Well let's see, maybe if I criticize everything that seems gay about Johnny Weir, and praise everything that seems straight about Evan Lysacek, the straighties will love me more and forget my eyebrows look like they were done by Zsa Zsa Gabor."Watching the program, it's sickening. He spouts out everything he possibly can to scathingly attack Johnny - as a skater and as a person.In reference to Evan Lysacek, he says, "He has a classical elegance and masculinity on the ice that I think we need to see in male figure skating." Okay, we get it. You like Evan because he's masculine, and you hate Johnny because he doesn't live up to your oh-so-rigid standards of how a man should move on the ice. I'm really not sure which Evan Lysacek this man has met — or maybe they have some kind of relationship we don't know about going on behind the scenes — but Evan is hardly the king of masculinity. On one message board someone asked if Evan had grown a beard. Someone then posted a picture of Evan's rumored girlfriend.
"You cannot — I'm sorry — compare yourself to the lord savior as a figure skater," he says, in reference to a program Johnny is performing that is loosely based on Jesus Christ.First off, he's not comparing himself to Jesus. That's like saying Jim Caviezel is comparing himself to Jesus because he played him in that horrible film The Passion of the Christ. It's figure skating, it's entertainment. And if anyone knows a figure skater's program tells a story, it's Johnny Weir, who is known for gliding across the ice like "liquid gold" (a term that figure skating legend Dick Button used to describe how magnificent Johnny's skating was) and fully submitting yourself to the program as both an athlete and an artist. What's even funnier is that his beloved Evan was skating to Jesus music RIGHT in the footage they were showing as they continued to blast Johnny like he had murdered their mothers.Yet another has-been, Nancy Kerrigan goes on to say, "I think that Evan has a more classic style," which really means he's less gay, and "it can relate to more people, where Johnny is a little more out there and it's hard for people at home to relate." Right, America so relates to Evan Lysacek, and is so turned off by Weir, yet at the 2005 Marshall's U.S. Figure Skating Showcase, where the winner is based on votes from viewers at home, Johnny came in first. And at this year's Marshall's Johnny came in second only to Sasha Cohen. Where was their beloved Evan Lysacek you ask? Oops, he didn't even make it past the first round. So much for relatability.How does Kerrigan have her own show? Does anyone even care what she has to say, or how much bigger her nostrils have gotten this year? Like Michael Jensen said over at After Elton.com, "Where's Tonya Harding and her tire iron when you need her?" This isn't the first time Ms. Kerrigan has opened up her mouth a little too wide. She was rebuked back in 1994 for complaining and cursing at a Disney parade while her mike was on, unbeknownst to her. Apparently not the sweetheart we thought she was. Let's not dwell on the fact that the outfit she's wearing in the video is something I swear I wore to a play rehearsal in third grade. The style died out in the early nineties along with her talent and career.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Meagan Kelley
A huge round of applause for this article. Chris Evans has put the spotlight on Mark Lund's hypocrisiy and bigotry in a remarkably tasteful and well-written article.
In more than 20 years of watching figure skating, I have never heard the kind of vitriolic homophobia exhibited by Mark Lund. That it comes from a gay man makes it that much more outrageous, as well as laughable.
2 - Candace
Go, Chris! Lund's self-loathing homophobia was appalling to watch. It is unbelievable that he would actually attack the three-time National Champion and suggest that he is unworthy of the title for not being "masculine" enough! And really, someone should tell Nancy Kerrigan that if Ladies' skaters were similarly judged on their "daintiness" and ladylike appearance, her giant horse teeth would have disqualified her every time.
When will USFSA and old-school hypocrites like Lund realize that Johnny's individuality is exactly why he is the most popular male figure skater there is right now? They can promote Evan and ignore Johnny all they want, but the fans just keep on loving Johnny! Lund is only a celebrity in his own mind, but Johnny Weir is a star.
3 - Olga
That segment was embarrassing for the so called ex "great skater" hosts. They showed they know nothing about a sport they should know everything about. The comment by Kerrigan that not many people can relate to Johnny....ummm Johnny's Angels and Marshalls Challenge. How could you not relate to him? He's amazing. Their critique of his programs and costumes was childish.
I am also appalled at the general way they treated Johnny. He is a champion. They showed no respect for him what so ever and basically dismissed him. No encourgagement or warmth for him for Nationals but instead already decided Lysacek would be champ. Lets see them treat Michelle Kwan like that.
All they did is emphasize their lack of figure skating knowledge, their stupidity and idiocy. It was so incredibly childish and silly, it was actually funny.
We love Johnny and always will!!!
4 - Ray
Lund should step down from ever offering any skating commentary again. Any institution that hires him for that task risks losing respectability. His petty and useless diatribe against a 3-time champ who has all the admiration from the likes of Button and Fleming demonstrates a personal vendetta (in response to a perceived snub or just plain jealousy over real popularity and respect?)to attack a would-be easy target for personal gain (Lund's name was probably uttered at the water cooler for a cool five-minutes).
In any case, what Lund proposes would be the death-blow to an already threatened sport, one whose popularity unfortunately may never reach the same heights it did after Harding's blow.
When individuality and creative expression from the likes of Weir should give total way to forgetful, cookie-cutter "masculine" programs such as those of Elvis Stoyko, is when viewers stop paying to see men skate.
And I've met Evan Lycasek. He ain't that butch, girl. His beard is more than literal, if ya know what I mean...
5 - Anonymous
I thought I was the only person who watched this show! I am glad you wrote this great article and called Lund on his ludicrous comments!
Cheers to you!
6 - Jewel
Sounds like Mr. Lund is filled with self-loathing, so he makes himself feel better by attacking a talented young athlete with disparaging remarks about his actions and appearance. I don't know who this Lund character is, and I don't care, but he is trying to bask in Johnny's spotlight by making controversial remarks about him. Make yourself famous by criticizing the famous. Well this pompous windbag has now had his 15 minutes of fame at Johnny's expense, so please go away.
Johnny Weir's honesty, hilarious comments and outrageousness has earned him many fans and much media attention. He is colorful and controversial, and many people know who he is, even those who don't follow skating. He is generating interest in skating again, and is like a breath of fresh air. I like the fact that he takes risks and can thumb his nose on occasion at the skating establishment.
Johnny skates in a classic, balletic style that is much appreciated, especially in Europe. He is very musical, detailed-oriented, and pleasing to watch. Evan is more of a steady, "meat & potatoes" type of skater. He is a good technician, but is not as artistic or as lyrical as Johnny. Both men are talented but stylistically very different. The only reason Johnny might not retain his title is because he hasn't been able to train as much, and he had admitted to this. Still, he has enough talent to pull off another win, so he should not be written off just yet.
7 - Eric
As a gay man, I would like to say that Johnny Weir can represent me and my community any time. Mark Lund, on the other hand, is exactly the kind of self-hating hypocritic that we all wish would just disappear, as he does nothing but hurt us all with his idiotic stereotypes and vicious comments. His need to launch personal attacks against other men for not being "masculine" enough is obviously just an attempt to cover up his own insecurities about himself.
And if everyone is just so sure that Evan's more masculine skating style makes him heterosexual, then how come he is never subjected to questions about which gender he sleeps with the way Johnny is? Why doesn't it go both ways? I keep hearing that because Johnny "acts gay" that means he is opening himself up to have his sexuality questioned; so why isn't Evan opening himself up to having HIS sexuality questioned by "acting straight"? Seems pretty biased to me.
8 - Tristan
Oh, please. Mark Lund was never even anywhere near famous enough to have become a has-been who could actually qualify for The Surreal Life. You have to have actually made the B-List (or at least the C- or D-List) at some point in your career, and then fallen down to a complete loser nobody, before you can get on The Surreal Life. No one ever knew who Mark Lund was.
Lund is just a sad, pathetic loser who is obviously unhappy with himself and never really accepted his sexuality (for all his claims of being "open" about being gay, it's pretty clear he isn't very comfortable with it at all), so he rages at people like Weir who are at ease with who they are and show it. It's just your typical self-loathing queen behavior. Y-a-a-wn.
Now, Kerrigan is enough of a washed-up has-been to make the Surreal Life. That I'd like to see. The Ice Bitch locked in a house with, say, the kid from 'Mr. Belvedere' and MC Hammer. Good stuff.
9 - Mickey
Mark Lund has done a terrible disservice to American ice skating with this little hissy fit. It's exactly this sort of nonsense that drives people away from watching skating because it caters to the erroneous notion that people care about this non-issues. I don't give a hoot if a skater is gay and/or masculine anymore than I care if he is vegetarian. I certainly don't want some blow-hard commentator talking as if it mattered at all. We can only hope that not many people saw this show. I will say that it looked to me like the other two people were quite uncomfortable with what he was saying, but they should have done more to disagree with him. The oddest aspect of that commentary, IMHO, was the slamming of Weir's costume. I know people made fun of the orange glove in the swan costume, but that costume was hardly the most outrageous one on display in competitions last year.
10 - jojo
Oh, Lundy's just jealous of a younger, hotter, way-more talented guy who still has all his hair.
And Kerrigan has always been a nasty little piece of work. She had the whole country's sympathy behind her because of that crack to the knee she took, and still managed to blow it by being snotty to an orphan (Oksana Baiul), generally acting ungrateful and rude and then having an affair with a married man and breaking up his family. She's just a cow.
Mickey makes a good point - FIGURE SKATING FANS JUST DON'T CARE IF THE SKATERS ARE STRAIGHT, GAY, WHATEVER. They could be sleeping with ferrets for all anyone cares. It's all about the beauty of the skating.
Mark Lund and Nancy Kerrigan claiming that people can "relate" better to Evan Lysacek was obviously absurd; whenever Johnny and Evan go head-to-head in a public vote in competition, Johnny crushes Evan hands down. Clearly, the fans relate to Johnny very, very well, and Lund and Kerrigan are trying to promote an agenda that has no basis in fact at all.
11 - sunjoy
Before joining you in ripping Lund a new one, let me qualify a couple of points that are in favor of the Lund/Kerrigan/Whoever segment:
Point 1: Someone claiming to be Lund replied (I think on USFSA), about where he's coming from. His argument is basically the tired one about why people should be outed, but it says: "Mr. Weir is an individual who enjoys all the rights of the gay community without coming out to support the gay community.... With Mr. Weir posing for photos wearing heels and elaborate makeup... I say, 'Please don't insult the grand drag queens of yesterday and today, unless you thank them for their tireless efforts of days past and present by acknowledging them publicly.'" Assuming this is really Lund, and that he's not backpedalling just to get off the hook, perhaps it's not homophobia and self-hate that motivate him so much as a political agenda to out people. *That* argument will be left aside for the moment, but excuse me but exactly what benefits from the gay community are Johnny in particular enjoying?
Actual point 2: Kerrigan says that Johnny's two new programs this year seem a little "flat". So far I have to agree, based on Skate Canada and Russia. At the Marshall's "Skate Idol" he went back to the Swan, and it was manna not only for many of us Johnny fans, but Dick Button & co. were jizzing their pants over it. His new programs needed work to be competitive -- I hope he's had the time to put that in.
Point 3: Johnny is talked about in some circles like he's an Olympic champion, even though he (*and* Evan Lysachek) have some ground to cover before they can go head to head with the world champion level guys like Lambiel, Joubert (3 quads in his long program), Plushenko, and the Japanese Men.
Of course I suspect one *reason* for this -- quite apart from noteriety -- is that Johnny's skating, (like arguably Sasha Cohen's as well) utterly trancsends the sport aspects of figure skating, and can move even casual Olympic spectators who normally would prefer to watch Ice-Hockey.
Everything else those three said against Johhny and in favor of Evan was either calculated BS meant to hype the rivalry for the casual fan, or just malicious verbal diorrhea. Evan is "more classical?" Hello, classical is Ballet, or if you want, the more Russian style of men's skating, which ever since Jackson Haines has been the more classical, in tension with the more modern "masculine" programs like Joubert's "Matrix".
Evan's a good skater, has a great chance -- like Weir -- at winning Nationals if he's healthy, but his choreography is boring. It's like any other male skater, except that he doesn't bring the fire of a Plushenko or the Technical tour de force of Joubert. He over-uses head rolls, and the final legs spread ending pose in all his programs.
You've already made the point about Johhny's 'relatability' and Marshalls. Funny, I read sashafans, which tends to have a slightly younger and I suppose hetero-girl audience that for the most part favors Evan. Many of them, even still, are adamant that Johnny's skating should be allowed to speak for itself, and that Lund went beyond the pale.
Sorry for the excessive verbiage.
12 - sunjoy
PS: for anyone interested in skating, and the gender issues involved, I'd highly recommend Ellyn Kestnbaum's book Culture on Ice:
An interesting point she makes is that instead of the "hetero-male gaze" used by many critics of dance choreography, the dominant gaze in skating (aside from judges) is hetero-female, and one which is distinct from the hetero-female gaze of the culture-at-large, because it's informed by technical knowledge of skating. Hence perhaps the cry for Johnny's -- or any skater's -- personal life to be *kept* private and seperated from the skating. A straight female skating fan *might* prefer Johnny to be straight, but ultimately that's irrelevant in the face of the quality and/or gaps in his technique and choreography.
13 - ad
WOW...I have never heard of this show or whatever before, but when i read this article i was stunned.
1st off-Chris, you are AMAZING! i love this article you wrote & the things you had to say.
I am a huge fan of Johnny Weir and I am SOO tired of people putting him down. I hear it all the time, even from people I have skated with. I am always sticking up for him and will continue to do so. He is what figure skating is about, the beauty and the grace. Who cares what he has to say off the ice or how he wants to keep his life private? Just because he is famous, the world doesnt need to know what he does in his free time. Plus, I agree with most things he has said that were critisiced... Who does Lund think he is? No one really knows him anyway & now that they do, they dont like him. Evan is a wonderful athlete as well, but why is it always these two who get talked about? Even though they may have been discussing the US Nationals, why doesnt anyone EVER really discuss Emanuel Sandhu? His style of skating and outfits is close to Johnny's and maybe even more "out there." Johnny has shown what a great skater he is winning 3 nat. titles and getting fan votes on Marshalls. He started later at the age of 12 & was given a natural talent.
as a skater myself, i can say how ugly this sterotyped graceful and pretty sport can get.
Good Luck to Johnny and Evan this wkend at Natl's.
14 - Kimberlyclark
Evan landed all his jumps buy he is gawky physically. His harms and legs have no line. It's not his fault it's just how he's built. Is that what Lund thinks is Masculine? God forbid someone should be graceful on the ice. Kerrigan should be ashamed of herself, after all her years in skating to not speak up for a more balanced view of the sport. Come to think of it she could give Weir lessons on on butching it up. Or is it now wrong for women skaters to be "athletic" on the ice rather than "ethereal"
15 - ellis
Mark Lund is a bottom. He want to see "masculine men" on ice" because he can't imagine having sex with a another bottom like Weir. Period. Get over it, girl.
16 - sadghdskgjh
uhmmm....fuck you. <3
i'm sure johnny is alot better than you at everything, not to mention, he's drop dead gorgeous.
he's amazing, you're nothing. Obviously you're jealous if you have to make a website about him.
17 - BITTER
There are other skaters Johnny's age who behave with more maturity and less pretentiousness than he does. I could name several, and some of them are gay, but that is beside the point. How can I take someone seriously who says "Paris Hilton will rule the word" and who has the work ethic of a homeless bun. Everytime he craps out on the ice, it's his fault; he's too busy making up his "hot" list on his website, he's not training the way a world champion should. Maybe if the US was more supportive of their male skaters, it would be different, but still that is no excuse for the past year where he has made a fool of himself on ice and off ice, especially in print. You can find a thousand twinks just like him in any false-ass attitude bar or pretentious coffee house; this one just has skating lessons. He needs to shut up and stop criticizing everything and everybody and just fucking skate. He's the most fluid and graceful US male we've had ever, but he fails to capitalize on it. He a great skater but a shitty athlete. I'm no fan of Lysacek, I find him awkward and dated; Frank Carroll is ancient and he makes his skaters skate that way; Lysacek is just a recycled Chris Bowman with skinny legs and no ass. Johnny could totally skate circles around this guy, but chooses not to. I am sick of people coming up with excuses for him; he's a shitty athlete and competitor. The most celebrated US male skater since Boitano? GURL PLEASE - Boitano had a work ethic that bordered on the supernatural, THAT's why he won all of his titles. Don't compare Johnny to him; Johnny couldn't change Brian's jockstraps.
18 - Keith Joza, Chicago
What arises from decades of television production and the ever-increasing American "freedom to speak our mind" complex is what we witness here in this sad television show. Rather than choosing to educate the viewer as Dick Button did and put forth a positively critical assessment of Johnny Weir's talent, two of the three commentators trolled the muck of social commentary with a woefully pathetic personal assault. Where is the integrity of our media producers who allow this to pass as quality programming? Let us all hope that there will be a spark of wisdom in control booths across the nation as commercial breaks provide the necessary time to put the foolishness back in the closet and get down to the business of responsible television broadcasting.
19 - skatingfan
Who cares if someone is gay or not? The only division in skating is between men and women. Who is this Lund loonie to make such a fuss? Grace and beauty are a part of good skating as much as staying on your feet. I think it would be interesting to see men skating in little skimpy costume like the women have to do. Unfortunately, that's probably against the rules. I love that new rule where the women have to give the judges a nice crotch shot while putting undo stress on their hip joints. Please explain how anyone can justify that one. It's not even beautiful or graceful, but I'm not into beaver.
20 - skatingfan
A wee moment of silence for the passing of Chris Bowman.
21 - Amanda Shank
He's dead now :D... the self loathing ass killed himself. And Johnny's skating just gets better and better. LOVE HIM. I've been following his career since '02 and following figure skating since '88 (I was 5).
22 - Amanda
Ooops it wasn't him who died, sorry.
23 - wind
manybe lund just was telling his mind. his is effeminate, so he love masculine guys. understandable but not very professional. hope he can find his masculine guy. best wishes to him.
24 - Manuel
Mark Lund shows the word "gay" on his forehead just by looking at him, so I don't know how come he is so critical about gay people now... OMG.
25 - Drink Your Haterade
The bitter one here isn't Mark Lund, it's the writer who attacks anything and everything he perceives as even remotely anti-gay. Get a life, Mary.