Nathan Chen issues apology for interview

[Gilligan]

My admiration for Nathan grows. You could tell that this was from his heart. Unfortunately, his haters will still hate - and have a much louder voice on social media. This makes me sad.

I think he cares about the struggles of others and he would especially want to take care not to hurt the feelings of other skaters. He would want to make it clear he values all the voices in skating, just in case anyone had the slightest doubt. I admire him for putting being kind ahead of being right.

I did not see Nathan on the list of men registered for Glacier Falls or Philadelphia Summer Comp, so the wait for music and program continues.

 

[shine]

Why t f did he have to apologize?! At most he had to CLARIFY and articulate better what he was trying to express. This really pisses me off. I HATE this whole taking things out of context, jumping the guns right away without really understanding, and cancel culture in general. Social media is sickening.

 

[Mamamiia]

I think there are people, especially fans truly felt hurt by what he said for reasons that I might not be able to fully understand. I think some of them reached out to him and those are the people he apologized to.

 

[Gilligan]

I think SaDa, shine, Mamamiia, bm1111, Ella, Feijoa and many others here have make good points. True, we are preaching to the converted--if you are posting here (except for some unnamed guests) you probably think Nathan is a decent human being as well as a good skater. But really, it is impossible for anyone to never say anything that will hurt somebody somewhere. Nathan tries his best, but if the only acceptable standard of conduct is to be Mother Teresa (no, can't have feminine example... I'll edit this when I find a man worthy of sainthood) on a pair of Jackson boots with John Wilson blades, then he might as well take a vow of silence and take to the mountains (with some hiking gear, maybe).

Which will suit the haters... until somebody else regularly beats their idol.

Can we talk about hip hop Mozart again?

 

[SaDa]

Why t f did he have to apologize?! At most he had to CLARIFY and articulate better what he was trying to express. This really pisses me off. I HATE this whole taking things out of context, jumping the guns right away without really understanding, and cancel culture in general. Social media is sickening.

I understand how you feel. My initial reaction was outrage too...but, at the end of the day, Nathan is choosing to be the bigger person here. I'm fine with him making an apology as long as he understands that there's more than one side to this and that there are people out there who don't think he did anything wrong. With the amount of haters just waiting to jump on him, I'm not sure that clarifying will allow this to settle down. It might continue to be a distraction, and I think Nathan has much more important things to be focusing on.

 

[luckyu2]

He apologized for his choice of words and committed to learn and grow into a place that he can better address the question without centering around his own experience.

Why t f did he have to apologize?! At most he had to CLARIFY and articulate better what he was trying to express. This really pisses me off. I HATE this whole taking things out of context, jumping the guns right away without really understanding, and cancel culture in general.

 

[Gilligan]

I understand how you feel. My initial reaction was outrage too...but, at the end of the day, Nathan is choosing to be the bigger person here. I'm fine with him making an apology as long as he understands that there's more than one side to this and that there are people out there who don't think he did anything wrong. With the amount of haters just waiting to jump on him, I'm not sure that clarifying will allow this to settle down. It might continue to be a distraction, and I think Nathan has much more important things to be focusing on.

He's said what he felt he needed to. He can move on, whether they move on or not. If it weren't this, it would be something else, 100% invented if need be.

 

[Flying Feijoa]

He apologized for his choice of words and committed to learn and grow into a place that he can better address the question without centering around his own experience.

Yup. More questions about gender stereotyping in skating will inevitably be posed to him in future, especially during in the pre-Olympic media hype. The fundamentals of his message are fair (that skating can be both 'masculine' and 'feminine' and that male skaters often get discriminated against for doing a supposedly 'feminine' sport) but the issue of gender/sexual orientation-based discrimination in figure skating is complicated enough that a lot of care needs to be taken to articulate one's viewpoint without being misunderstood. So, on the bright side this is a good learning experience for him in dealing with this topic!

 

[discode]

I'm glad he apologized and didn't try to explain or clarify himself since I feel that would come across badly. And the apology was to fans who were hurt, not to people who were going to hate anything he said regardless and will continue to do so. Anyway, good on him for doing so since this didn't exactly make the news and was just people ranting on twitter. Would have been pretty easy to ignore honestly.

 

[heyheyhey]

Cool, I don’t think he necessarily needed to but if he felt like issuing a statement and clarifying his true intentions then I’m glad he could settle it once and for all and now everyone (Twitter really ) can move on.

It’s the season we and Nathan have all been waiting for, no distractions allowed for his inevitable big moment.

^ Sucks about Simone, not sure what the cause was but I also remember how encouraging she was to Nathan when he had his slip up in the short program last Olympics. It happens to the best of them, neither have anything to prove but it’s cool when athletes who can relate to the pressure got your back.

 

[shine]

I understand how you feel. My initial reaction was outrage too...but, at the end of the day, Nathan is choosing to be the bigger person here. I'm fine with him making an apology as long as he understands that there's more than one side to this and that there are people out there who don't think he did anything wrong. With the amount of haters just waiting to jump on him, I'm not sure that clarifying will allow this to settle down. It might continue to be a distraction, and I think Nathan has much more important things to be focusing on.

I’m glad you can look at it that way. He is also probably a bigger person than I am, or just chose a different path than I would’ve personally taken if it was me. But maybe being a public/semi-public figure, he didn’t really have a choice, especially in today’s social media environment.

 

[Decoder]

Goodness, the WAG Team Final in Tokyo and Simone pulling out (sorry about the spoiler) gave me flashbacks to what happened to Nathan back in 2018! The pressure these athletes are under!

It’s the season we and Nathan have all been waiting for, no distractions allowed for his inevitable big moment.

^ Sucks about Simone, not sure what the cause was but I also remember how encouraging she was to Nathan when he had his slip up in the short program last Olympics. It happens to the best of them, neither have anything to prove but it’s cool when athletes who can relate to the pressure got your back.

I think it would be nice if there were fewer interviews

This is probably further proof that Nathan did the right thing (and hopefully shut them off) . One thing I can see in his skating is that he's very calm and confident, and I (we) don't want to see any disruption/distraction from now on.

 

[luckyu2]

This is probably further proof that Nathan did the right thing (and hopefully shut them off) .

Love your optimism according to some of those people, he is just on probation and will be scrutinized over his future action including his program and costume choices

 

[Gilligan]

Love your optimism according to some of those people, he is just on probation and will be scrutinized over his future action including his program and costume choices

Did they give him a rainbow colored palette he had to choose from? A minimum of 5 colors? Ruffles? Sequins? Don't they know he'll just wear the bus seat shirt again?
That would work for me--I *like* that shirt.

Did they give a classification of which composers are sufficiently feminine? Maybe he can appease them by skating to the 1812 overture by Tchaikovsky. It has cannons. Blasting cannons. But maybe to modernize it we could add voiceovers.

Heck I'd be thrilled if he'd skate to a lot of Tchaikovsky music, the 5th Symphony, the 6th, all the wonderful music used for Onegin ballet, Only the lonely, etc.

And if he actually let them dictate his program and costume (when hell freezes over, lol), then I have been doing the wrong thing. I should be on twitter or IG pissing in his cornflakes. I should be raising hell on Vera's IG.

 

[shine]

He was the person being interviewed about his life and experiences as an athlete, he was put into the center of attention by virtue of being the interviewee. It's pretty silly to expect him to not mention his own experiences... this is certainly different from a person expressing their unsolicited opinion on their social media platform regarding social issues etc.

Preach.

This also reminds me that when he said he will not just use his own life experiences I literally rolled my eyes so hard. HE was the one being interviewed, if we did not want to hear HIS life experiences and own perspectives then why do we want to listen to his interviews? Just so we can learn what’s the latest and hottest politically correct things to say? I guess I shouldn’t be so worked up about it since even he himself isn’t (based on the fact that he was willing to apologize), but that in particular came across almost as pandering to me (sorry).

 

[1111bm]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I always saw Nathan's skating as genderless - if a girl skated to Caravan or Nemesis it would be cool too! (And anyhow it was choreographed by a woman). Refinement and emotion might be considered 'feminine', and power and athleticism 'masculine' in traditional quarters. But don't the best skaters, regardless of gender, combine all these qualities?

This! I'm genuinely puzzled that Nathan's skating so often gets pigeonholed (or even denigrated) as masculine. I don't find it 'traditionally masculine' at all, to me he has the perfect combination of qualities from both ends of the spectrum.

In my wildest dreams I skate like Nathan (minus jumps ) This doesn't make me question my own identity as a girl. Nice lines, neat feet, great expression, speed and attack are for all genders!

And yeah, if I could skate I would also like to move like Nathan, the same effortless ease, same neat feet, beautiful arms and hands. Spot on emotional expression, never too much.

Both of you have described his best qualities perfectly!
And yes, that is totally pathetic me every time I'm on the ice

HE was the one being interviewed, if we did not want to hear HIS life experiences and own perspectives then why do we want to listen to his interviews?

Absolutely, it would actually be offensive () to his fans, to not talk about himself and his own experiences/viewpoints during an interview centered around him.

 

[LutzDance]

Agreeing strongly that in the original context, he was supposed to be sharing his personal experiences. Imagine a little boy going into a skating class gets taunted by other boys in school for doing a "girl's sport". If he hears what Nathan said about this he'd know that he has the World Champion by his side and that there are many ways figure skating can look like. It can be quite empowering. While statistically straight and male are two denominators associated with privilege, individually a person with these identities can still feel like a minority under certain circumstances. It's worthwhile to acknowledge such experience which is so easily washed away in today's social conversations as long as it's done with honesty and respect. Being in a privileged social group doesn't make one's feelings any less valid.

Also just saying the host of the interview was a comedian. Hope he grasps the opportunity and makes this whole fiasco into a sketch - a perfect example of social irony!

(Apologize if what I said is repetitive of previous posts - I have yet to go through all the discussion in this thread since I last logged in)

 

[Gilligan]

Agreeing strongly that in the original context, he was supposed to be sharing his personal experiences. Imagine a little boy going into a skating class gets taunted by other boys in school for doing a "girl's sport". If he hears what Nathan said about this he'd know that he has the World Champion by his side and that there are many ways figure skating can look like. It can be quite empowering. While statistically straight and male are two denominators associated with privilege, individually a person with these identities can still feel like a minority under certain circumstances. It's worthwhile to acknowledge such experience which is so easily washed away in today's social conversations as long as it's done with honesty and respect. Being in a privileged social group doesn't make one's feelings any less valid.

Also just saying the host of the interview was a comedian. Hope he grasps the opportunity and makes this whole fiasco into a sketch - a perfect example of social irony!

(Apologize if what I said is repetitive of previous posts - I have yet to go through all the discussion in this thread since I last logged in)

Yes, he was supposed to talk about his experiences and I remember his hinting his elementary school life was made difficult because he was a figure skater. It makes me sad when people scream privilege as if he didn't grow up Asian in a mostly white area and not even comfortably middle-class. Someone white and gay may be rich and spared the indignities of sleeping a cold night in a car.

However I take issue with your 'hope he grasps the opportunity and make this into a sketch' comment. It is only my opinion, but a comedy sketch (to me) severely undercuts Nathan's attempt to reach out to and make peace with those who felt hurt.

I don't mean the haters, of course--he has plenty of LGBTQ fans who like and respect him. Nathan's words are his, and I am not putting the responsibility for Nathan's words on the hosts, but as comedians I would think they are people who make a living out of getting a visceral reaction out of their audience? The more controversial, the more views, the more attention.

I don't think this topic is something that should be made into jokes. Jokes might make light of the suffering of little boys who get called insulting names because of their choice of ballet or skating or whatever. This is just my opinion as someone who wasn't even sure an apology was necessary, but who can appreciate the kindness and maturity of an athlete who made such efforts on behalf of others. He's a kind person, and his intentions should be respected. A sketch might turn it all into mockery.

 

[LutzDance]

Yes, he was supposed to talk about his experiences and I remember his hinting his elementary school life was made difficult because he was a figure skater. It makes me sad when people scream privilege as if he didn't grow up Asian in a mostly white area and not even comfortably middle-class. Someone white and gay may be rich and spared the indignities of sleeping a cold night in a car.

However I take issue with your 'hope he grasps the opportunity and make this into a sketch' comment. It is only my opinion, but a comedy sketch (to me) severely undercuts Nathan's attempt to reach out to and make peace with those who felt hurt.

I don't mean the haters, of course--he has plenty of LGBTQ fans who like and respect him. Nathan's words are his, and I am not putting the responsibility for Nathan's words on the hosts, but as comedians I would think they are people who make a living out of getting a visceral reaction out of their audience? The more controversial, the more views, the more attention.

I don't think this topic is something that should be made into jokes. Jokes might make light of the suffering of little boys who get called insulting names because of their choice of ballet or skating or whatever. This is just my opinion as someone who wasn't even sure an apology was necessary, but who can appreciate the kindness and maturity of an athlete who made such efforts on behalf of others. He's a kind person, and his intentions should be respected. A sketch might turn it all into mockery.

Ok I should clarify: what I had in mind was the hypocrisy of a select group of people who are clamoring for the protection of minority groups while willfully ignoring the very fact that the target of their abusive behaviors is sharing the experience as a minority. I personally find jokes to be among the most powerful media to address hypocrisy.

I guess I need to make this somewhat about Nathan to stay on topic. The reason I brought up comedians was that it changed the context of the interview, if only slightly. A comedian’s job is to challenge the safe zone, to make you question your identity, to make you laugh while experiencing discomfort. It’s conflict-provoking and conflict-solving rolled into one. That’s why exploring and sharing your own experience are especially integral to that interview - while the hosts might not have been particularly comedic, their audience would expect something along the line. All I’m saying is, while it’s not his personality, Nathan is allowed to be not so rule-following/diligent/careful for once.

 

[Gilligan]

That's too high brow, IMHO, not going to reach the largest audience. I don't know how many comedians would be interested. You're looking for a theatrical production, maybe. I still don't like it, for reasons I can't even articulate. *shrug*

ETA maybe it won't even make the point you think it will. The refrain will be, you can be gay and still a sexist, etc. And apologies for misreading your intentions in your post above.