Hollywood praising Tonya Harding

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know which skater would have gone to the Olympics if Tonya Harding had been booted off the team right away?

Because that is the person who really got cheated. I wish that they had gotten the opportunity to skate in the Olympics in place of Harding that year.

Elaine Zayak finished 4th at the 1994 U.S. Championships and was named an alternate for the Olympic Games.

Elaine Zayak was robbed then. Where is her movie?

Wow. Read Zayek's story. She competed in the 1984 Olympics and then trained hard and was able to came back to compete in the 1994 Nationals. I just watched video of her skating and she was so talented and so nice.

To borrow a phrase from Nancy, "Why???" Why couldn't Zayek have gone to the Olympics instead of Harding that year. Why???

This is all very nice about Zayak (and she made huge contributions to skating, even though half of her foot was cut off by a lawnmower when she was a toddler), but Michelle Kwan was the alternate. They even sent her to Norway in case they booted Tonya out (or Nancy couldn’t skate) and Kwan would have to step in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know which skater would have gone to the Olympics if Tonya Harding had been booted off the team right away?

Because that is the person who really got cheated. I wish that they had gotten the opportunity to skate in the Olympics in place of Harding that year.

Elaine Zayak finished 4th at the 1994 U.S. Championships and was named an alternate for the Olympic Games.

Elaine Zayak was robbed then. Where is her movie?

Wow. Read Zayek's story. She competed in the 1984 Olympics and then trained hard and was able to came back to compete in the 1994 Nationals. I just watched video of her skating and she was so talented and so nice.

To borrow a phrase from Nancy, "Why???" Why couldn't Zayek have gone to the Olympics instead of Harding that year. Why???

This is all very nice about Zayak (and she made huge contributions to skating, even though half of her foot was cut off by a lawnmower when she was a toddler), but Michelle Kwan was the alternate. They even sent her to Norway in case they booted Tonya out (or Nancy couldn’t skate) and Kwan would have to step in.

P.S. Nicole Bobek finished 3rd at those Nationals, ahead of 4th-place Zayak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know which skater would have gone to the Olympics if Tonya Harding had been booted off the team right away?

Because that is the person who really got cheated. I wish that they had gotten the opportunity to skate in the Olympics in place of Harding that year.

Elaine Zayak finished 4th at the 1994 U.S. Championships and was named an alternate for the Olympic Games.

Elaine Zayak was robbed then. Where is her movie?

Wow. Read Zayek's story. She competed in the 1984 Olympics and then trained hard and was able to came back to compete in the 1994 Nationals. I just watched video of her skating and she was so talented and so nice.

To borrow a phrase from Nancy, "Why???" Why couldn't Zayek have gone to the Olympics instead of Harding that year. Why???

This is all very nice about Zayak (and she made huge contributions to skating, even though half of her foot was cut off by a lawnmower when she was a toddler), but Michelle Kwan was the alternate. They even sent her to Norway in case they booted Tonya out (or Nancy couldn’t skate) and Kwan would have to step in.

I love, love Michelle Kwan. Beautiful skater, lovely lady. I would have MUCH rather seen her go to the Olympics that year than Harding.

Zayak is awesome too. Love her interviews. It would be a hoot to watch this Tonya Harding movie with Elaine. I would pay admission to see and hear her reactions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know which skater would have gone to the Olympics if Tonya Harding had been booted off the team right away?

Because that is the person who really got cheated. I wish that they had gotten the opportunity to skate in the Olympics in place of Harding that year.

Elaine Zayak finished 4th at the 1994 U.S. Championships and was named an alternate for the Olympic Games.

Elaine Zayak was robbed then. Where is her movie?

Wow. Read Zayek's story. She competed in the 1984 Olympics and then trained hard and was able to came back to compete in the 1994 Nationals. I just watched video of her skating and she was so talented and so nice.

To borrow a phrase from Nancy, "Why???" Why couldn't Zayek have gone to the Olympics instead of Harding that year. Why???

This is all very nice about Zayak (and she made huge contributions to skating, even though half of her foot was cut off by a lawnmower when she was a toddler), but Michelle Kwan was the alternate. They even sent her to Norway in case they booted Tonya out (or Nancy couldn’t skate) and Kwan would have to step in.

P.S. Nicole Bobek finished 3rd at those Nationals, ahead of 4th-place Zayak.

Love Nicole Bobek, too. She struck me as maybe a little undisciplined but about as likable as they come.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Potential spoiler alert here, so don't read this particular post if you plan to see the movie:

NP here. Just saw the movie and had to chime in. At the time of the occurance, I thought Harding was 100% guilty. The movie (if you choose to see it, I understand if you do not) is convincing, in making Harding seem to perhaps not know about the exact plan.

If you tend to root for the underdog, you will like this movie, and how it was done.

I have to chime in about whether you could "tell" about "class" at the time. Truth is, you would have had to be blind to not have been on team Nancy when this whole thing happened. There was no doubt that Tonya was raised in a broken home (or whatever you choose to call it); and yes, you could actually tell by looking at them. They were judged by how they carried themselves, however inaccurate (turns out, as we now know, Kerrigan's life was far from perfect). In retrospect, it is hard not to be on Team Tonya now, having seen things play out.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. She now says that she "overheard" her exhusband and his henchman discussing attacking Kerrigan but, of course, Tonya had nooooo idea what the exact plans were. Uh huh.

I've got a bridge to sell ya too, pp.

Seriously. Google "Elaine Zayak 1994 comeback youtube" for the real scoop. She talks about who the ladies in the locker room immediately suspected was behind the attack on Kerrigan. She starts talking about that around 7:37 in the video.

PP here. For some reason, maybe I wasn't such a big skating fan, but I don't remember Zayak as a skater. Nor do I recall Oksana, the first time (I think) I saw her was in the Swam Lake costume and I remember being so impressed (and glad she won - was winning later?). I don't think Zayak's interview sheds too much light on the attack. Of course everyone thought it was Tanya, at the time, which tells me it probably was (i.e. that Tonya was involved in one way or another - the movie made it seem like Jeff would have done anything for her). I really appreciate how the movie portrays that side as a bunch of (as they put it) "boobs". LOL. Because that is what they were. I have seen on or two people like that in my life and they were almost exactly identical! LOL.

[Anonymous]

*Swan

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know which skater would have gone to the Olympics if Tonya Harding had been booted off the team right away?

Because that is the person who really got cheated. I wish that they had gotten the opportunity to skate in the Olympics in place of Harding that year.

Elaine Zayak finished 4th at the 1994 U.S. Championships and was named an alternate for the Olympic Games.

Elaine Zayak was robbed then. Where is her movie?

Wow. Read Zayek's story. She competed in the 1984 Olympics and then trained hard and was able to came back to compete in the 1994 Nationals. I just watched video of her skating and she was so talented and so nice.

To borrow a phrase from Nancy, "Why???" Why couldn't Zayek have gone to the Olympics instead of Harding that year. Why???

This is all very nice about Zayak (and she made huge contributions to skating, even though half of her foot was cut off by a lawnmower when she was a toddler), but Michelle Kwan was the alternate. They even sent her to Norway in case they booted Tonya out (or Nancy couldn’t skate) and Kwan would have to step in.

P.S. Nicole Bobek finished 3rd at those Nationals, ahead of 4th-place Zayak.

Love Nicole Bobek, too. She struck me as maybe a little undisciplined but about as likable as they come.

Unfortunately, she got involved with meth, but has tried to get clean in recent years, I hear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know which skater would have gone to the Olympics if Tonya Harding had been booted off the team right away?

Because that is the person who really got cheated. I wish that they had gotten the opportunity to skate in the Olympics in place of Harding that year.

Elaine Zayak finished 4th at the 1994 U.S. Championships and was named an alternate for the Olympic Games.

Elaine Zayak was robbed then. Where is her movie?

Wow. Read Zayek's story. She competed in the 1984 Olympics and then trained hard and was able to came back to compete in the 1994 Nationals. I just watched video of her skating and she was so talented and so nice.

To borrow a phrase from Nancy, "Why???" Why couldn't Zayek have gone to the Olympics instead of Harding that year. Why???

This is all very nice about Zayak (and she made huge contributions to skating, even though half of her foot was cut off by a lawnmower when she was a toddler), but Michelle Kwan was the alternate. They even sent her to Norway in case they booted Tonya out (or Nancy couldn’t skate) and Kwan would have to step in.

P.S. Nicole Bobek finished 3rd at those Nationals, ahead of 4th-place Zayak.

Love Nicole Bobek, too. She struck me as maybe a little undisciplined but about as likable as they come.

Unfortunately, she got involved with meth, but has tried to get clean in recent years, I hear.

Yes, that was a really sad turn that she took there for awhile. I do think that she has made a sincere effort to get herself back on track.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The movie was great, and I personally don't think Tonya knew the guy was going to physically hurt Nancy Kerrigan. Harding had a crazy life and I find her sympathetic.

The movie wants her to be portrayed as the victim. It was a movie that is not set in reality of the actual events. Plenty of people have crappy lives and would not contribute to the assault of another human being. Hollywood movies manipulate the facts, your brain while they take in the cash.

I think how some people like you are so bizarrely emphatic even years later that nothing about her life and situation can generate empathy. I feel like its so like...it was such an encapsulation of how we (American's) view the world.

Nancy was this good traditional hardworking elegant girl, and got the whole country behind her. And Tonya was a tough, poor, arguably far more hardworking considering what she was overcoming, crass girl who never learned how to be a good person but who wanted a different life for herself and fell victim to the habits her crappy life instilled in her. Nancy was always going to be fine. In another life she may or may not have won the gold but no matter what she was going to be fine. Tonya needed that gold to escape, so she behaved badly. And was very very thoroughly punished for it. And still 30 years later people are unable to find empathy (which is not the same as forgiveness or acceptance) for her. Its amazing to me.

You don't get it.

There are many people with Tonya's background who deserve a leg up and all the sympathy in the world for how hard their childhoods are.

But if that person is suspected of having her partner go and beat up her opponent so she can gain an unfair advantage? You actually think it's the obligation of the audience to sympathize with such a scumbag? Are you obtuse?

I totally get it. Pulling oneself out of that kind of situation is hard. Some people are able to do it and become Oprah and some people aren't. What would Nancy have been like if she'd grown up like Tonya? Would she have been the rare person who had the ability to get out of it relatively unscathed or would she have been a complicated person too? I didn't use the word sympathy BTW, you did, it means something different and more condescending than empathy.

I think we have an obligation as a society to try to create fewer Tonyas and in order to do that one needs to understand the Tonyas AND the ones who made it out, you need to understand both to understand why there will always be more Tonyas than Oprahs so we should try to help less kids be born into that fate that is so hard to scrape your way out of. And try to give resources to those kids who are born there to help them if they show the fortitude to try to get out. Tonya showed that fortitude and was mocked by the media for a long time before that bat was swung.

AND FWIW I am not saying her punishment was unjust, I'm not saying it wasn't understandable to be disgusted with her in the moment. I'm saying that now, 30 years later, we have the ability to view her as a whole three dimensional person which is not something anyone bothered to do back then. Tonya wasn't able to overcome all the obstacles thrown at her. Would you have been? Would Nancy have been? Why do we hold poor people to a standard that we probably couldn't meet ourselves?

LOL, the super high standard of, "Don't commit unprovoked felony violence on another human being just to create an advantage for yourself?"

Just stop it with the classism BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Potential spoiler alert here, so don't read this particular post if you plan to see the movie:

NP here. Just saw the movie and had to chime in. At the time of the occurance, I thought Harding was 100% guilty. The movie (if you choose to see it, I understand if you do not) is convincing, in making Harding seem to perhaps not know about the exact plan.

If you tend to root for the underdog, you will like this movie, and how it was done.

I have to chime in about whether you could "tell" about "class" at the time. Truth is, you would have had to be blind to not have been on team Nancy when this whole thing happened. There was no doubt that Tonya was raised in a broken home (or whatever you choose to call it); and yes, you could actually tell by looking at them. They were judged by how they carried themselves, however inaccurate (turns out, as we now know, Kerrigan's life was far from perfect). In retrospect, it is hard not to be on Team Tonya now, having seen things play out.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. She now says that she "overheard" her exhusband and his henchman discussing attacking Kerrigan but, of course, Tonya had nooooo idea what the exact plans were. Uh huh.

I've got a bridge to sell ya too, pp.

Seriously. Google "Elaine Zayak 1994 comeback youtube" for the real scoop. She talks about who the ladies in the locker room immediately suspected was behind the attack on Kerrigan. She starts talking about that around 7:37 in the video.

PP here. For some reason, maybe I wasn't such a big skating fan, but I don't remember Zayak as a skater. Nor do I recall Oksana, the first time (I think) I saw her was in the Swam Lake costume and I remember being so impressed (and glad she won - was winning later?). I don't think Zayak's interview sheds too much light on the attack. Of course everyone thought it was Tanya, at the time, which tells me it probably was (i.e. that Tonya was involved in one way or another - the movie made it seem like Jeff would have done anything for her). I really appreciate how the movie portrays that side as a bunch of (as they put it) "boobs". LOL. Because that is what they were. I have seen on or two people like that in my life and they were almost exactly identical! LOL.

Zayak's comeback story was overshadowed by the whole Harding henchmen fiasco. But Zayak had quite an accomplished figure skating record in the 80's and when she came back 10 years later to skate at Nationals that was a pretty big deal...then Harding's people attacked Kerrigan and that was THE story. Oksana is a skater from the Ukraine. I don't recall if I saw her skate before the Olympics or not but she had brilliant performances at the Olympics. I do think she deserved the gold even though Kerrigan was right up there with her.

[Anonymous]

^I thought it was telling how there was suspicion immediately following the attack that Harding was involved.

I also thought it was insightful how Zayak said that she had a difficult time going out onto the ice to practice because the suspect hadn't been caught and she was afraid that she could be next. She uses humor to describe it all now but I'm sure at the time that the assault on Kerrigan was a major distraction to every skater there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know which skater would have gone to the Olympics if Tonya Harding had been booted off the team right away?

Because that is the person who really got cheated. I wish that they had gotten the opportunity to skate in the Olympics in place of Harding that year.

Kwan. Just think if she had gotten her first-Olympics nerves and pressure out of the way before Nagano.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know which skater would have gone to the Olympics if Tonya Harding had been booted off the team right away?

Because that is the person who really got cheated. I wish that they had gotten the opportunity to skate in the Olympics in place of Harding that year.

Kwan. Just think if she had gotten her first-Olympics nerves and pressure out of the way before Nagano.

I'm the classist pp. I bet it would kill you to know I was totally team Lipinsky!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't watch it. Can't say that this surprises me at all, though. Most of them are too vacuous to see their own hypocrisy. The less I hear them speak, the more I enjoy their artistic endeavors.

THIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have to say I agree that it's disconcerting that Tonya Harding had the movie named after her when it's Nancy who had her dream demolished. Did anybody invite her?

No she didn't. She went to the Olympics. The fact that she didn't get the gold was due to someone else beating her, outpeforming her. Nothing else. She actually wasn't a particularly great person either, if you'll recall. (I'm assuming you're old enough to remember her behaviour post-medal). She also had an affair with and then married her manager.

1. How do you know the injury didn't affect her performance?

2. Are you serious? How about someone commits a violent act of injury on you which significantly and publicly affects your career, and X number of years later they make a movie about, named after, and glamorizing one of your attackers?

You effing idiot.

+100
I can't even believe someone would make Nancy Kerrigan out to be the villain in all of this. Wow.