Johnny Weir ain’t having this Tonya Harding image recuperation thanks to the new film ‘I, Tonya.’
TMZ caught up with the former Olympic skater and current NBC Sports superstar at LAX and asked him about the award-nominated film that has so many people talking.
“She did a horrible, horrible thing,” Weir said of Harding. “So she’s a pariah in our sport and she shouldn’t be forgiven for basically possibly having the opportunity of ruining somebody’s life.”
He also dismissed Hollywood’s embrace of Harding.
“Unless you’re a skater or an athlete you can’t really understand.”
Weir went on Twitter and blasted Harding some more:
I am so over the glamorization of a villain simply because she was born on the “wrong side of the tracks.” While her upbringing may have been tragic, athletes come from all walks of life and succeed based on merit, not assault. I won’t applaud her and I stand for Nancy.
— Johnny Weir (@JohnnyGWeir) January 10, 2018
With its glorification of violence, pushing gay actors to stay in the closet and failure to recognize contributions from women and people of color, Hollywood has had its moral authority challenged on many things over the years. In the last six months it has taken a massive hit as years of tolerance of sexual assault have come to light.
Weir would add “ability to understand the lives of athletes and physical assault” to the list.
In case you weren’t aware, Tonya Harding was a figure skater who was involved in the hiring of someone to attack fellow skater Nancy Kerrigan and injure her legs, hoping to remove her from competition. It didn’t work: Kerrigan won silver at the 1994 Olympics and Harding finished without a medal.
