Johnny Weir Won't Let Mocking Broadcasters Skate

Johnny Weir is fired up over comments by a pair of Canadian broadcasters who suggested his costumes and "body language" set a bad example for male skaters and joked he may have to take a gender test.

"I'm not somebody to cry about something or to be weak about something," Weir, 25, told a press conference in Vancouver on Wednesday. "I felt very defiant when I saw these comments."

Last week, broadcasters Claude Mailhot and Alain Goldberg of RDS, a French-language sports channel in Quebec, mused on air if Weir was unfavorably judged during one of his typically flamboyant routines because he wore a semi-see-through pink and black outfit.

"This may not be politically correct, but do you think he lost points due to his costume and his body language?" Mailhot said.

Goldberg responded that Weir's mannerisms might hurt other men competing in the sport. "They'll think all the boys who skate will end up like him," he said. "It sets a bad example."

The pair joked that Weir should take a gender test like female South African runner Caster Semenya was forced to undergo after stirring up speculation that she was really a man. Mailhot suggested Weir should compete against women.

"It wasn't these two men criticizing my skating, it was them criticizing me as a person, and that was something that really, frankly, pissed me off," Weir told reporters. "Nobody knows me. … I think masculinity is what you believe it to be."


Posted By: Lacy
People