OK, I have really heard everything now. Little Johnny Weir, the only remotely interesting thing happening in figure skating these days and certainly the only reason I even knew there WAS an Olympics this year (other than the games pre-empting West Wing), may be too gay for a sport where the men wear spandex body suits and sequins. Or as the NY Daily News said, "Okay, too gay for figure skating? That's pretty gay." And now I have a headache.
From their report gossip column:
Ice insiders say the U.S. Figure Skating Association is trying to butch up its image by nudging aside the flamboyant men's champ, Johnny Weir.
The murmurs became a roar this week when publicity materials for January's championships in Spokane, Wash., were released. The Web site (and reportedly the print brochure, which The News has not seen) featured every major skater except Weir, the U.S. Men's National Champion, who has held the title for three years.
I do love me some Johnny Weir. He has said some truly memorable queeny things, like if he couldn't be himself he'd like to be Christina Aguilera. It's a terrible thing to want to be, but how can you resist a guy who has the balls to SAY it? NBC asked him about being called a diva, and he sternly corrected them, saying he isn't a diva, he's a princess.
Of course, there is the fact that Johnny has never actually officially SAID he's gay (although sportswriter Dan Wetzel, in one of the funniest sports stories I've ever read, did opine, "I am less convinced Wilt Chamberlain was straight than I am that Johnny Weir is not"). On the one hand that ticks me off, because I get so irritated at all this coyness about sexual orientation... it's SO EIGHTIES, it's SO OVER. If you don't have the nerve to come out, then please just HIDE IT and don't bat your eyes at the gay marketplace so we'll love you and give you our queer dollars.
I mean, I was really liking Dangerous Muse after I heard the Disco Reject Mix of their song "The Rejection" until I read an interview with them in the Advocate in which they refused to say they're gay. Which does beg the question as to why the Advocate gave them the cover of their music issue, which they said would feature OUT gay musicians. But I guess that's enough about music. Because unlike in the music biz, I do get that coming out in professional sports, even figure skating, can be the end of your career.
Back to Princess Johnny, who once scolded a sportswriter who wrote that he'd worn a boa to a press conference. "I'd never," he said decisively, "wear a boa to a press conference." You have to love someone who'd not only say that, but would have any reason to have to say it in the first place.
Comments