December 3, 2010 Update:
December 2, 2010 Update:
In this article, posted November 30, 2010 Bethenny Frankel makes an absolutely infuriating comment. This comment appears in the article: "I am the woman Johnny Weir wants to be and he clearly has an issue with that,” she joked.
Some might look at this comment and think 'So what?' or 'It's a joke!' It's not a joke, and it isn't funny. As stated below in this Blog, Ms. Frankel hosted the GLAAD Manhattan 2010 event, and is considered a spokesperson for the organization. In fact, she appears on the GLAAD.org website on the page for the GLAAD Manhattan event. Ms. Frankel knows, or should know, through her association with GLAAD how hurtful comments such as her flippant remark can be. Johnny Weir is NOT a woman, he is a man. Whatever his sexual orientation is or his not, he clearly identifies himself as a man and has said so repeatedly. For someone in Ms. Frankel's position to make a remark like this one and then try to pass it off as a joke is unfortunate, sad and hurtful to a great many people. When Ms. Frankel was told repeatedly (and she can not say she wasn't, she has answered Tweets from fans posted in the same Twitter stream as the ones informing her of what was going on, as well as posts on her Facebook page) about the attacks on Weir and did not make any comment whatsoever, I thought her lack of response was at least partially due to stubbornness. However, now I'm not so sure. Knowing what she has already been told about the attacks on Weir (and to a lesser degree on Laurieann Gibson, Dick Button and some of the other contestants), for her to make this remark now is even more hurtful, sad and mean.
Hasn't anyone learned anything from the recent rash of suicides of young people who were LGBT or the attacks on gay citizens in New York City and elsewhere? What is wrong with this woman?
Read my Blog
Unfortunately It's All About Hate and Ignorance... (Repost)
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Here is just a sampling of the lovely Tweets that appeared in Johnny Weir's Twitter stream after the November 29 episode of 'Skating With the Stars':
Classy
Tweet number three:
Classy
Tweet number four:
Classy
Tweet number five:
Classy
Tweet number six:
Prolific attack Tweeters:
AndreaDesrude (Publicly stated belief in conspiracy against Bethenny Frankel)
The attacks against
Johnny Weir began after the first episode of ‘
Skating With the Stars’ on November 22nd. They reached a crescendo during and immediately after, the November 29th episode. They have now died down significantly; however , it is my fear at least they will start up again with the next episode no matter what Johnny Weir says, and no matter how good (or bad)
Bethenny Frankel skates or scores. I noticed when looking at Johnny Weir’s twitter stream today that a LOT of tweets have been deleted since Monday evening; including a pile of them attacking him with gay slurs. In fact, despite the fact I saw a number of them Monday night, today I could only find one. Interesting! I doubt the people who posted those tweets cared enough about hurting
Johnny Weir or his fans feelings to delete them for that reason; so I must assume someone suggested they be deleted. (A friend of mine counted twenty-nine separate Tweeters sending hate tweets and insults to Johnny Weir
after the deleted tweets were already gone. This does not count the number of Tweets sent by 'fans' who criticized his judging, told him to stay in Australia, or told him he should be fired.)
Several of these people are following Johnny Weir on Twitter. Why? So they can harass him and jump on every word he says? One person answered a question by a Weir fan as to why she followed him on Twitter with '
...To see what he is going to say next! I follow several people I despise!'; as if being unhappy with a few scores and misinterpreted comments was a good enough reason to 'despise' someone?
I have noticed many of these people are heavily into the ’Real Housewives…’ franchise, and most, if not all, read the ’
The "I Hate Jill Zarin" Blog written by LynnNChicago. Many of the attack tweeters railing against
Johnny Weir on Twitter and Facebook both are not even spelling their idol Bethenny Frankel’s name correctly. I would say at least fifty percent of them spell her name wrong.
It’s ridiculous to accuse Johnny of personal vendettas, and raging against Bethenny, especially when you consider how many of them are accusing
Jill Zarin of somehow arranging for perfect, Olympic caliber skater Bethenny Frankel to be harshly judged on this show. They are also putting words in Johnny’s mouth that he never said, and conveniently forgetting that all three judges are judging similarly. It apparently doesn’t matter to any of these people that they are calling the other skaters, as well as the judges, names (for example, saying that
Vince Neil fell on his ‘fat ass’, referring to
Laurieann Gibson as a ‘bitch’ and an ‘idiot broad‘;
Johnny Weir as a ’snake’, ‘creep‘, ‘moron‘, ‘loser‘, ‘ass’, ‘idiot’, ‘embarrassing’, mocking
Brandon Mychael Smith, and so on), not to mention making ridiculous accusations such as Weir’s being paid off to judge Bethenny harshly, against a judge on a figure skating reality show.
At least one Bethenny 'fan' flat out threatened Johnny Weir with violence (unless of course you can interpret a comment that they would like to 'shove a fairy wand up his ass', or that he should have a 'broken champagne glass shoved up his ass' as something else).
Several have praised Bethenny's skating partner for apparently saying the judging was 'F++king Bullshit' (he should know better since he's been judged in the past and should be able to see what is wrong with her skating himself. Besides
Ethan, I have news for you! Some of her fans are criticizing and badmouthing YOU! You're next honey!); and I haven't seen a single one of them mention having a problem with Bethenny's 'F++k Johnny Weir' comment during the November 29 segment. What is WRONG with these people? Why can they not see that what they are doing and saying is far worse than anything they think Johnny Weir is doing or saying?
Another thing that bothers me is why
Bethenny Frankel, who is quite aware of what has been going on between her fans and
Johnny Weir, has not said anything. She is a spokesperson for
GLAAD, and hosted the
GLAAD Manhattan benefit at which Johnny Weir appeared with her; yet she has not even opened her mouth regarding the attacks on Weir. No one expects her to be able to control her fans behavior, but saying SOMETHING about at least the homophobic slurs against him would be advisable and helpful. Yet she continues to say absolutely NOTHING and lets it all continue unabated! It obviously was not her who encouraged her ‘fans’ who hurled homophobic slurs at Weir to delete them, she hasn’t said a word other than to jab the judges and promote herself.
A number of gay references on Facebook on the '
Skating With the Stars' page have already been flagged, and at least some of them removed by Facebook. Personally I flagged so many personal attacks on Johnny Weir in the comments on Bethenny Frankel's Facebook page that I lost count of them all. (Referring to Johnny Weir as Johnny WeirD? Please, at least be original!) I also flagged some attacks on Laurieann Gibson, and a gay slur against Dick Button, as well as a few attacks against the other contestants that were a little too personal.
Truthfully many of the fans, while possibly over reacting a little to the judging, were not launching personal attacks on Johnny Weir or anyone else; however enough were that it was quite disturbing to me and should be disturbing to anyone.
For some (humorous) insight into why Bethenny Frankel is not scoring well on ‘Skating with the Stars’, please read the following article:
"Skating With The Stars" Week 2 Recap...The Weir/Zarin Conspiracy?
For some good insight into week two of 'Skating With the Stars' (and an exclusive interview with Denis Petukhov as well as evidence of the conspiracy theory beliefs) read my friend Misfit Mime's Blog:
Special to the Blog: Interview With Denis Petukhov! (And Right Back Atcha, Bethenny...)
For insight into the ratings for episode one:
SWTS, Episode 2: Attack of the Bitch Slap! Because 9.36 Million of My Closest Friends Can't Be Wrong!
Read my Blogs:
Skating With the Stars Week Two Recap and Standings
How To File A Complaint With GLAAD
Johnny Weir's 'Calm Down'
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