Gracie Gold Apologizes for Racially Insensitive Tweet

[AllYouDoIsTalk]

I have to say, I commend you on your recovery!

Oh don't. I love alcohol. It makes me write like Fitzgerald...or it makes me think like I write like Fitzgerald-- same thing.

 

[Mrs. P]

Oh don't. I love alcohol. It makes me write like Fitzgerald...or it makes me think like I write like Fitzgerald-- same thing.

But not Hemingway? Ha, sorry. When I think of writers who thrived on alcoholic beverages, I think of Hemingway.

 

[kwanatic]

Anyway, I agree with you earlier, we should all neuter our thoughts and criticisms-- however valid they may be-- and temper our enjoyment from friendships and life just so we won't don't offend strangers on the internet. What a wonderful and highly satisfying way to live.

Neutering your thoughts or tempering your enjoyment isn't necessary. If you have something inappropriate or potentially offensive that you want to laugh about with someone, tweet it to that someone instead of everyone. Problem solved, no loss in enjoyment or limiting of your thoughts.

 

[AllYouDoIsTalk]

But not Hemingway? Ha, sorry. When I think of writers who thrived on alcoholic beverages, I think of Hemingway.

Hemingway is too, I dunno, concise and sparse. I like to use big words that make me smart like like Hegel or Henry James and flow like Fitz and Proust. I wanna make myself feel educated like fans of Rachel Flatt.

 

[Mrs. P]

Hemingway is too, I dunno, concise and sparse. I like to use big words that make me smart like like Hegel or Henry James and flow like Fitz and Proust. I wanna make myself feel educated like fans of Rachel Flatt.

LOL. I like it concise, so I <3 Hemingway. I also love his nonfiction work for Esquire and other magazines during World War I.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

It may not be insincere, but it is certainly careless. Careless, just like her original tweet. Too bad she hasn't learned from her previous mistakes to be more careful.

Carelessness in doesn't make something insincere.

Geez, I would hate for your friend to text you, "Great to see u!" You'd probably respond, "Actually, it's 'Great to see you'. Please be more careful with your text messages next time."

Social media is no place for a grammar nazi, so cut her some slack. Not everyone proofreads their tweets. And not everyone has impeccable speling and punctuation,

 

[Kunstrijdster]

Social media is no place for a grammar nazi, so cut her some slack. Not everyone proofreads their tweets. And not everyone has impeccable speling and punctuation,

Gosh, you just said the n... word. Over here, that would raise a big s...storm for sure. Luckily, I'm not offended.

 

[qwertyskates]

My own 2 cents...Asians who have been at the brunt of class acts the likes of "You speaky Ingrish?" or " I lub you long time!" might see red at this tweet. The common taunting of Asians does have a lot to do with the issue of language, eg. the offensive "ching chong chang", an obvious put-down and denigration of status. Others of different ethnicity would probably shrug off a mockery of say, their Italian or German accented English, however, a Russian might laugh at a mimicry of his heavily accented English but bristle at the stereotyping of alcoholism. Been lurking, but I think understanding how it might upset Asians but not appear offensive to other groups, regardless of GG's intentions, could shed some light as to how the controversy could snowball.

 

[ice coverage]

I think to clarify, when she apologies for an "inside joke" she doesn't mean one with Mao Asada, she means one with the Japanese fans (and fans in general). Chances are many of them saw the "One More Sandwich" video and had a chuckle at the reference. I know I did -- but I only saw the edited tweet.

From what I can see in reconstructing the situation, she tweeted the photo and immediately got the "why did you post a racist tweet" thing, which prompted her to delete it and change it to the non-offensive version. The edit was made VERY quickly because in looking at people's RT, the offensive version can't be found anywhere. (Usually if it was there for some time you would see a couple of RTs of the original version). The offensive tweet actually lived on because that same user took a screen shot of it, posted it on Tumblr and then it went from there. It didn't even go viral. Again from what I can see, it was a handful of people who posted the Tumblr post and then basically were relentless to Gracie about giving a public apology, which prompted Gracie to block them on Twitter.

Phil Hersh only saw it likely because someone on FSU posted it, prompted spirited discussion over there. So to be clear, Phil wasn't the one that found the original tweet, but likely saw some tweets directed at Gracie Gold regarding it or the FSU discussion.

In the end, this probably should go into the "be careful what you post" file. This is what happened to a tweet whose lifespan was litterly seconds. I'm almost too careful with my posts -- I get paranoid about tweeting typos.

Hi, Mrs. P. (BTW, thx for your PM on another subject ... I owe you a reply, which I eventually will get around to. )

I was disagreeing with Doris' perspective (see way above) that the tweet was in effect a private conversation btwn just the two friends Gold and Asada.
I was not trying to discuss Gold's apologetic tweet and its reference to the the vid, which thousands of ShibSibs fans (including me) have enjoyed in the months since it was posted.

As for the video, I will note that I respectfully disagree with Doris on another point:

... Mao is cast as the person to declare that there is, "Only One More Sandwich" (looped to repeat multiple times), which kicks off a fight between all the skaters present to get to the last remaining sandwich. .... Mao's accent is highlighted in this video ...

I would not say that Asada's accent was "highlighted" in the video.
IMHO, the purpose of the repetition of her "One more sandwich" line was to add a deliberately grandiose flourish to setting up the premise and humor of the desperate attempts by each skater to claim that last sandwich. The "inside joke" of the vid was the melodramatic struggling for the sandwich, and had nothing whatsoever to do with Asada's accent.

Back to you, Mrs. P. I have a general question regarding the apparent dearth of RTs of Gold's original tweet:

I see that only one RT was tallied at the time of the screen shot. But it seems within the realm of possibility to me that additional retweeting did ensue before the original tweet was deleted.
My ultimate question: If the original tweet is deleted (as Gold's was), do all RTs then automatically (and retroactively) disappear from the timelines of others? Meaning that at this point, we would have no way of knowing the volume of RTs?
In other words: I am wondering whether RTs of a deleted tweet remain accessible for posterity. Or would individual RTs have been visible only if seen in real time before the deletion of the original tweet? If so, could that be the very reason why the other person used a screen shot on tumblr to immortalize the original tweet?
(I ask mostly because I always like to learn new ins and outs of Twitter. Am not obsessing over this issue as it relates to the Gold story.)​

Bottom line: definitely agree with your conclusion of "be careful what you post."

 

[Blades of Passion]

This outcry is so pointless and simple-minded.

We all have differences and they should be celebrated. Asada's pronunciation "onry one more sandwich" was being celebrated by Gracie, because it's cute.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Hemingway is too, I dunno, concise and sparse. I like to use big words that make me smart like like Hegel or Henry James and flow like Fitz and Proust. I wanna make myself feel educated like fans of Rachel Flatt.

The problem is, your big words are unnecessary and confusing (particularly when you string them together) on an internet forum.

This isn't some haughty soiree where you need to use big words and exhibit how cultured you are for people to actually care about what you have to say. When posts aren't concise and sparse, people won't bother reading them. And your apparent superiority complex (I mean, how dare people be cultured in things other than yourself, and how dare they speak concisely!) will only alienate them further.

Do you actually speak with people in Texas the way you write posts on this forum? I can picture you in a grocery store... "I beseech you to guide me to a compartment wherein dairy products are stored, such that I may extract one for purchase thereafter?" instead of simply saying, "Where's the milk?"

Big words don't make you smart. Saying something smart, in a clear and concise way, makes you smart. The formal nature of literature and embellishing your posts with big words isn't meant for a colloquial place like the internet.

 

[yuki]

This outcry is so pointless and simple-minded.

We all have differences and they should be celebrated. Asada's pronunciation "onry one more sandwich" was being celebrated by Gracie, because it's cute.

Yes, except for the fact that she pronounced "only" correctly in the video.

 

[Mrs. P]

Back to you, Mrs. P. I have a general question regarding the apparent dearth of RTs of Gold's original tweet:

I see that only one RT was tallied at the time of the screen shot. But it seems within the realm of possibility to me that additional retweeting did ensue before the original tweet was deleted.
My ultimate question: If the original tweet is deleted (as Gold's was), do all RTs then automatically (and retroactively) disappear from the timelines of others? Meaning that at this point, we would have no way of knowing the volume of RTs?
In other words: I am wondering whether RTs of a deleted tweet remain accessible for posterity. Or would individual RTs have been visible only if seen in real time before the deletion of the original tweet? If so, could that be the very reason why the other person used a screen shot on tumblr to immortalize the original tweet?
(I ask mostly because I always like to learn new ins and outs of Twitter. Am not obsessing over this issue as it relates to the Gold story.)​

Bottom line: definitely agree with your conclusion of "be careful what you post."

Retweets would not retroactively disappear if the original poster deleted the tweet that was retweeted. When I've posted tweets with a typo or some sort of error and didn't delete it right away, when I deleted it, I still saw the RTs of my original tweet. So usually in that case, I'd go to those RT-ers and say "Hey that tweet had an error, here's the corrected version" or something like that.

That's why I believe the edit was made really quickly, because I could not find a single RT of the original version (and I looked) for it. The reason why the poster on Tumblr posted a screen shot because, as far as I could see, the original nor any RTs of that original tweet was available.

For the record, I rarely delete tweets with errors unless it's like a slight typo (it's vs. its, that sort of thing). I usually prefer to leave the original then post a follow-up tweet stating that the previous tweet was incorrect.

 

[Kunstrijdster]

This outcry is so pointless and simple-minded.

We all have differences and they should be celebrated. Asada's pronunciation "onry one more sandwich" was being celebrated by Gracie, because it's cute.

I like this. But imagine the general reaction if she had tweeted that in response. First thing people would come up with is: "Calling someone's accent cute is belittleing and condescending and hints at the inferiority... blah yak"

 

[kwanatic]

The problem is, your big words are unnecessary and confusing (particularly when you string them together) on an internet forum.

This isn't some haughty soiree where you need to use big words and exhibit how cultured you are for people to actually care about what you have to say. When posts aren't concise and sparse, people won't bother reading them. And if your apparent superiority complex (I mean, how dare people be cultured in things other than yourself, and how dare they speak concisely!) will only alienate them further.

Do you actually speak with people in Texas the way you write posts on this forum? I can picture you in a grocery store... "I beseech you to guide me to a compartment wherein dairy products are stored, such that I may extract one for purchase thereafter?" instead of simply saying, "Where's the milk?"

Big words don't make you smart. Saying something smart, in a clear and concise way, makes you smart. The formal nature of literature and embellishing your posts with big words isn't meant for a colloquial place like the internet.

+3

 

[CarneAsada]

Carelessness in doesn't make something insincere.

Geez, I would hate for your friend to text you, "Great to see u!" You'd probably respond, "Actually, it's 'Great to see you'. Please be more careful with your text messages next time."

Social media is no place for a grammar nazi, so cut her some slack. Not everyone proofreads their tweets. And not everyone has impeccable speling and punctuation,

I was never saying that carelessness made the tweet insincere. I was not doubting her sincerity.

About the friend texting me? I wouldn't mind, as there is a difference between using a perfectly comprehensible abbreviation and wrongly adding an unnecessary apostrophe. I have cut her slack. I'm not raking her over the coals for the original tweet, right? She apologized for it.

 

[Barb]

T

Do you actually speak with people in Texas the way you write posts on this forum? I can picture you in a grocery store... "I beseech you to guide me to a compartment wherein dairy products are stored, such that I may extract one for purchase thereafter?" instead of simply saying, "Where's the milk?"

B

 

[qwertyskates]

This brings to mind episodes of Little Britain, ah, those Asians and their accents,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpiAhxaE_oI

Disappointed by this tweet, as I'm probably one of the few who thought her SP music and choreography were incredibly creative,mesmerizing and brilliant.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

This brings to mind episodes of Little Britain, ah, those Asians and their accents,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpiAhxaE_oI

Disappointed by this tweet, as I'm probably one of the few who thought her SP music and choreography were incredibly creative,mesmerizing and brilliant.

Hah, that's one of my favourite Little Britain gags.

 

[aftertherain]

We all have differences and they should be celebrated.

Ideally, sure. Why not? But because the U.S. is composed of a diverse group of people (more diverse than most other countries, perhaps), these kind of things have been a social issue for a long time now--and rightfully so.

Again, I don't think Gracie meant to offend, but it was still a little disappointing to see that she had written what she did. Personally, the tweet did not offend me and seems to have not offended Japanese fans, but I still stand by my point in that it was right for her to apologize. She is an American public figure who posted something publicly that may have been seen as condescending towards people of Asian descent.

I think what people don't understand--and this has nothing to do with Gracie, but in general--is that immigrants and children of immigrants still may or may not get mocked according to how they look--they don't even need to open their mouths to speak. You are probably more likely to be mocked in the streets if you are a nth-generation non-European descendant who can speak English as well as anyone than if you are one. And telling people to "get over themselves" because their experiences and opinions differ from yours does not help.

It may not have been her intent, but I do understand why people reacted negatively to it. On the other hand, I don't see why this tweet should be applied to how she skates or added to the shallow reasons why people "hate" her. That's just plain immature of people.

Do you actually speak with people in Texas the way you write posts on this forum? I can picture you in a grocery store... "I beseech you to guide me to a compartment wherein dairy products are stored, such that I may extract one for purchase thereafter?" instead of simply saying, "Where's the milk?"

I'm putting this in my phone so I can use it the next time I go to the grocery store. Hah!