ABC World News tonight is talking about the efforts by Skate Canada to make the sport of figure skating more tough, macho and masculine. Producer Eloise Harper talked to me for the segment; It’s on tonight if you catch it. I mentioned to a couple friends this week that they had wanted to talk to me about the issue, and my friends seemed shocked that the issue existed: Why would figure skating want to distance itself from gay men? Exactly!
on May 1st, 2009 at 9:49 PM
At least Elvis doesn’t want to totally to obliterate the Gays……… and Skate Canada is behind him. Where is GLAAD?
I don’t think Hitler wanted to totally obliterate the Jews either. He would have kept 1 or 2 of them around I’m sure.
on May 1st, 2009 at 10:02 PM
It is kind of embarrassing for Canadians, that a US news network had to do a piece, on the homophobic Canadian Skating federation. Doesn’t Canada have any gay defenders? Did they shut down after equal marriage was passed?
Glad you got interviewed. You now have your icebreaking issue to get in the door, welcome to prime time!
on May 1st, 2009 at 11:06 PM
Man……XTRA Canada so missed this story.
on May 1st, 2009 at 11:39 PM
It was talked about in the Canadian media on various news networks when the story first broke months ago. It’s just that it’s died down since then.
on May 2nd, 2009 at 9:00 AM
If Elvis had of said that he didn’t want to totally obliterate all the blacks from the NBA, there would be 100 million people screaming right now. Geez this world really hates gays.
on May 2nd, 2009 at 10:28 AM
Perez Hilton is now running with this story. What a shame Canada’s gay press totally missed this huge story about Canada.
on May 2nd, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Just saw the video… you looked good, Cyd! Very serious and businesslike. I think maybe this might be much ado about nothing, although I don’t know why they seem to want to encourage conformity rather than individuality. It’s the personalities and style of the figure skaters that make them popular.
on May 2nd, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Why don’t you scan the Xtra archives first?
on May 2nd, 2009 at 12:26 PM
I’m so glad Elvis doesn’t want to totally obliterate us all. He is so merciful to allow some of us to exist.
on May 2nd, 2009 at 1:51 PM
My partner and I cancelled our plans to attend the Vancouver games because of Hate Canada’s neo-Nazi antigay campaign. Why give a hate group like Skate Canada or Vancouver a penny of our money for tickets, hotels, food, etc. Skating numbers have fallen, like all sports, because roughly 250 channels to watch on TV, along with competing sporting events. Stojko’s remarks simply reflect the bigotry and hate of Skate Canada. Also, the old straights who run the thing won’t let young skaters perform to music with lyrics. Imagine the girls skating to Lily Allen or Lady GaGa, or the guys skating to music and lyrics of young music groups. Skating is trapped in its roots to ballet, and that’s the fault of the straight antigay haters who run the IOC, and Hate Skate Canada. Elvis should grow an Adolf moustache.
on May 2nd, 2009 at 2:01 PM
Oh yeah. When I think of Canada, thats the first thing that comes to mind. Fascism.
on May 2nd, 2009 at 4:47 PM
Terry is being a bit too over the top. Skate Canada is run by much older generation than these skater, so they do not know any better, however Canada is paying the price, because they did make the gay skater feel so bad, then they leave and Canada would do better at the Olympics if they did not leave. I feel sorry for the skater who have left, but they have to stand up for themselves because the IOC will not and if they think the world will be any more less gay when they leave skating, they are in for a big surprise. This here is nothing compared to the rest of society, so stand up or be pushed down, the choice is yours.
on May 2nd, 2009 at 5:55 PM
Call me dense but I really don’t see any way they can butch up figure skating. Even if they skate in flannel shirts and dirty jeans, as soon as they go twirling through the air in a jump and land with the outstretched arms…well that would kind of take them back to square one, wouldn’t it? And the spins? Forget about it!
I’m going to assume that they mean butching it up from a marketing perspective? This is very confusing to my brain area…
on May 2nd, 2009 at 8:51 PM
Elivs is still so bitter he could never win the gold
So many queens have done it but not him….always the bridesmaid
Anything to get his name out there again
Poor stupid thing ……..all washed up
This won’t amount to anything……….Duh figure skate is gay and fab
He jusy buried himself a little deeper ..but who really cares
on May 3rd, 2009 at 4:31 AM
Seriously Cyd, you are way off base. This is not about taking away the gay aspect of the “sport,” and I use that term for this story only. What they are talking about is taking away the unitard with spangles and frills. And most gay men I know don’t wear spangles and frills or a unitard when they are presenting themselves or their craft at its best. So, I think that what is being discussed is not a bad thing necessarily.
Okay, I said I don’t think this is a real sport. Well, I don’t think anything that is completely placed upon judges for the determination of a victory is a sport. The participants are athletic. But a panel of judges no.
on May 3rd, 2009 at 12:46 PM
More of the immortal philosophizing of Elvis Stojko.
on May 4th, 2009 at 2:03 PM
I sent an email to William Thompson, Skate Canada CEO, asking him to clarify their message…..here’s his answer:
Thank you for your email. We are considering the best way to respond to this situation. To some extent, we have felt a bit between a rock and a hard place as each time we seek to clarify, it seems to result in more controversy. One challenge has been that some press has taken comments out of context and juxtaposed with comments by others that do not represent our position in order to create a story.
As a bit of history, there is no and never has been any campaign. At the beginning of the season, we did feel that we wanted to message where possible the difficulty of the sport. This was in no way to diminish the artistry, rather simply to remind viewers of the levels of fitness, mental training and commitment required to be an elite figure skater. This messaging was NOT even for the mens event. In fact, our feeling was that often the athleticism of the women was being overlooked. In an interview, Debbi Wilkes used the word “tough”, intending it in a common meaning, difficult. What Debbi meant was that to be successful at the elite level, an athlete has to be physically and mentally strong. The interviewer then made the connection between tough and macho and made the assumption it was aimed at the mens event. Not true and not the case. There is no interest at Skate Canada in making the sport more macho, simply an interest in people understanding the difficulty of the sport and not marginalizing our skaters as athletes. It is one of the few sports that puts intense physical demands on the athlete and then demands it be done with beauty, grace and ease.
From the marketing the sport point of view, we have done extensive market research and have a good understanding of our demographics. Further, we have done market research and are well aware that the sports popularity is due to the combination of artistry and athletics. We in no way want to see any reduction in the artistry. In fact, our view is that a return to the jumpfest of the late 90s would be very damaging for the sport. Don’t get me wrong, many of the athletes from that era were remarkably good and they were competing in the sport as it was rewarded at the time so this is in no way a criticism of their abilities, merely a comment on the evolution of the sport. However, when I watched worlds this year, particularly the performances of Yu-Na, Joannie, Evan and Patrick, I really felt that these athletes were taking the sport to new level. While there have been many criticisms of the COP judging system, some of the athletes are doing programs with amazing intricacy of movement and steps and it has made the programs more demanding. This is recognized by many of the past greats. As an aside, when I was doing my ISU technical controller training, I tested with a technical specialist who is one of the greats of the sport. As we headed into the testing session, the former skater turned to me and said “I’m hoping they use one of my old programs for the test, it will be very easy to call – spin, level 1, footwork level 1…”. We both had a good laugh but it had an underpinning of truth.
From a personal point of view, I come from a judging background and as a judge, I loved the athletes that found unique and personal ways to blend athleticism and artistry. In the mens event, I wish I’d been a judge at the time of John Curry, Toller and Brian Orser as they were remarkable groundbreakers in the sport. My best memories from judging were judging the likes of Browning, Kulik and Yagudin and personally I want to see that blending of athleticism and artistry continuing into the future.
We certainly do not wish to alienate our fan base and, quite frankly, that fan base is very knowledgeable about skating. Our messaging was really intended for the more casual viewer of the sport, particularly with the Olympics here in Canada later this year.
For the record, while Elvis is entitled to comment on skating as he sees fit, he in no way speaks for Skate Canada and the views he recently expressed are not representative of the views of the leadership team at Skate Canada.
I certainly do not mind if you forward or share this email with others, I would just like to respectfully request that if you do so, you share the entire email.
on May 4th, 2009 at 8:50 PM
ABC News broadcast a story that leads people to believe (true or not), Skate Canada is obliterating gay athletes, from figure skating, to a demo of (Nielsen est.) 24 million people.
To counter, 3 days after, Skate Canada’s sole response it a wordy and ambiguous message, rumoured to be from the CEO of Skate Canada (because it is not on the official site therefore does not exist, so it could be some crazy person), to an audience of about 3 dozen message board posters and 16 people on OutSports?
Does anybody at Skate Canada know how to spell the term – public relations? If not, please go out into the street as ask a passerby, it is a start. I believe in starts.
The greatest public relations failure in the history of Canadian figure skating, is happening right now. In the next month, more heads should roll at Skate Canada, than Chrysler.
on May 6th, 2009 at 1:31 PM
If Elvis Stojko had said ‘skating doesn’t want to totally obliterate Jews (or Asians, Aboriginals, Blacks, etc.) and Jewish skating fans’, there would be hell to pay. But saying ‘skating doesn’t want to totally obliterate gays and gay skating fans’ is obviously acceptable (based on a Google search that showed no Canadian outrage).
If Skate Canada is paying Stojko one red cent, they should dissociate themselves from him immediately. Where in the hell is the Canadian government that funds the organization? I guess they don’t see anything wrong with the comment either. Talk about pathetic.
on May 6th, 2009 at 4:39 PM
How do you make peace with the Gay community without using the word Gay….you can’t, you insult us with your continued refusal to acknowledge that Gay skaters are not allowed at Skate Canada and you blame the skaters for their self-shame, not the organization that raised them from the time they were 5 years old
Check it out: http://www.skatecanada.ca/en/news_views/news/2008_2009/may_6.cfm
on May 6th, 2009 at 5:06 PM
Stojko’s comments about what makes a good male skater (Joe’s #16 comment link) are also way off base. Canada’s greatest skater ever, Kurt Browning, had powerful jumps and combinations, but he also had amazing footwork and artistry. He was the whole deal so to speak, as was 2007 champion Jeff Buttle.
Joubert is a great jumper, but between the jumps there’s limited ability. Give me a guy who can throw off seven triple jumps, and add in great footwork and spins, any time.
Stojko’s definition of ‘good’ men’s skating isn’t surprising. He had an awkward, almost bent over style of skating. Other than being able to do an extra revolution in the air, there wasn’t much there. Have fun picking limes, Elvis. Hope they’re not too sour.
on May 7th, 2009 at 7:54 AM
Kenny, I think you are getting a little off base. Skate Canada does not need to apologize to the gay community because it was never a gay issues in the first place. You can tell by the message that their CEO wrote the whole thing got manipulated by the media. If anything we should be upset with the media. They made the assumption that gay men could not be masculine, thus sparking this debate that has been hitting message boards all over. Did you ever hear a Skate Canada official say gay men are not masculine? No you never did.
on May 8th, 2009 at 11:53 AM
Does anyone think that the wonderful skater and World Champion 2008 Jeffrey Buttle was forced to retire? Also his good friend Christopher mabee? They both had the same excuse about retireing “no motovation.? Jeffrey has the full package in skating, the jumps [except for the quad], beautiful artistry, footwork, the best spins that get a level 4, etc. ….I really miss Jeffrey’s skating, it’s so elegant.
on May 8th, 2009 at 12:57 PM
I don’t think Skate Canada would ever force a World Champion (Jeffery Buttle) to retire when the Olympics were two years away in their own country. They’d want him to go for the gold in Vancouver.
Jeff had been skating for quite a few years, and according to his website he loved competing, but hated the nerves and pressure that came with competitions. He was tired of putting himself through that. I think it was his own decision and he decided to go out on top. You’re right, he was a fantastic skater who was both athletic and artistic.
on May 10th, 2009 at 12:45 PM
I’m disgusted by this as well as ashamed of Elivis. Yes, men’s skating is hard, physical and competitive, but how dare he think that your sexuality has any level on what you are physically capable of doing. Skate Canada can suck my hairy balls as far as I’m concerned and Elvis, after years of serving you at a major Cdn retailer of music and helping you pick out potential music for your routines, can not suck my balls……you can just kiss my ass.