U.S. Safesport bans Brendan Kerry (AUS)

[el henry]

Yea fair enough but still barely anything...

If he gets banned in Australia It'll mean something

Brendan would have made way more, and I mean waaaay more, teaching and coaching in the US than in Australia. He lived here for many years and has the contacts to do so, everything else being equal.

The US SafeSport ban hits him in the pocketbook much harder than an AusFed response. I imagine he left the US because of the investigation, although that is pure speculation.

AusFed may hurt more personally.

ETA: Of course, the ban's purpose is not to "hurt", It is to protect.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Here's an article posted by the (Australian) ABC news 1 hour ago:

Australian Olympic figure skater Brendan Kerry banned by US sport safety body for sexual misconduct

The ruling by the US Center for SafeSport bans Kerry for life from any events or activities controlled by the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

www.abc.net.au

I was very shocked to see the ABC article in my phone's news feed just now
I've heard that Gracie was sexually assaulted, but I never could've guessed that it was Brendan. As an Australian, I feel devastated.

Seems like some people here already knew that it was him who assaulted Gracie - was he mentioned in her book?
Not to doubt her or anything, I'm just curious whether he was already a "common secret" with Gracie's fans even before news of this ban came out. And confused how seems like no one in Australia including the Australian Olympic Committee and Ice Skating Australia knew anything about this until the sanction was released today...

Gracie did not explicitly name him, but the hints were more than enough to put two and two together. The clearest hint was that she had to make it clear to USFS that she would not skate in events he was also competing and that he was not a US skater but training in the US, which did narrow it down quite a bit.

Essentially, what made his name come up was his presence at 2016 Skate America (as Gracie's sister was traveling with her when the assault happened, and she was not at every competition that season), and his unceremonious withdrawal from Skate America in 2022, where no reason was ever named.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

AusFed may hurt more personally.

Considering the fact that one of the influential figures within the Aussie federation is his own mother (head of the coaches committee)... Yeah, that would definitely hurt more personally.

It also doesn't seem likely that anything will happen to him within Australia, because this has apparently been going on for years and his inappropriate behaviour around minors was known to Australian federation officials (including his mother) and simply ignored by them.
Maybe the public scrutiny will finally push them into having to act, one way or the other.

 

[Mathematician]

Brendan would have made way more, and I mean waaaay more, teaching and coaching in the US than in Australia. He lived here for many years and has the contacts to do so, everything else being equal.

The US SafeSport ban hits him in the pocketbook much harder than an AusFed response. I imagine he left the US because of the investigation, although that is pure speculation.

AusFed may hurt more personally.

ETA: Of course, the ban's purpose is not to "hurt", It is to protect.

So why wasnt he coaching in the US then? Clearly even with the choice he preferred to stay in Australia. So he needs to he banned there. A US ban is just an extremely light action.

The ban's purpose isnt to "hurt" anyone, it is to protect but its also to bring justice. There is little of the latter here.

 

[el henry]

So why wasnt he coaching in the US then? Clearly even with the choice he preferred to stay in Australia. So he needs to he banned there. A US ban is just an extremely light action.

The ban's purpose isnt to "hurt" anyone, it is to protect but its also to bring justice. There is little of the latter here.

He wasn't coaching in the US because he left because he was being investigated. (ETA: I admit this is my presumption. He left California in November 2017. He left for, of all places, Moscow. The article cited below says he was a registered coach in the US).

He was also, at that time, a full time athlete. No one with a choice, for whom money was the main object, would choose to coach figure skating in Australia, as lovely a country as it is, over the US.

Nothing in the bill authorizing the creation of SafeSport mentions "bringing justice". Rather the goal is "promoting a safe environment in sports that is free from abuse of amateur athletes"

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/534

The ban is issued to prevent further interaction with skaters and further abuse of persons in the skating community.

 

[saine]

Article from The Advocate. It includes Brendan Kerry's statement.

Kerry's ban only applies in the US where SafeSport has jurisdiction but he has stood down from coaching at Sydney's Macquarie Ice Rink by mutual agreement with Australian figure skating authorities.

The Australian Professional Skaters' Association said it would perform its own investigation.
The association's president and Kerry's mother, Monica MacDonald, has also stood down from her position pending the investigation.

 

[cheerknithanson]

Article from The Advocate. It includes Brendan Kerry's statement.

Oh.....

 

[Kris135]

He wasn't coaching in the US because he left because he was being investigated. (ETA: I admit this is my presumption. He left California in November 2017. He left for, of all places, Moscow. The article cited below says he was a registered coach in the US).

He was also, at that time, a full time athlete. No one with a choice, for whom money was the main object, would choose to coach figure skating in Australia, as lovely a country as it is, over the US.

Nothing in the bill authorizing the creation of SafeSport mentions "bringing justice". Rather the goal is "promoting a safe environment in sports that is free from abuse of amateur athletes"

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/534

The ban is issued to prevent further interaction with skaters and further abuse of persons in the skating community.

I really think that the ISU needs to start looking at banning people as well. The reason is that people in skating in can and do move to foreign countries for their careers all the time It's great that the Kerry is banned from coaching in the United States and maybe Australia, but what is stopping him from coaching skaters in other countries. He has contacts in Russia who says that he will not go there and start coaching skaters there and imagine the optics of seeing him with one of his skaters at the World Championships when the Russians allowed to compete again. I mean at this years worlds we had a coach who is connected with at least two major dopping cases, a skater who stands accused of sexual assault, and number of other coaches who have accused of verbally or mentally abusing their students. The problem is in many cases the National Skating Federations will not do anything especially if that skater or coach is getting the results that the federation wants. I would bet that Kerry has victims back in Australia, but it was kept quiet by the Australian Skating Federation. The same organization that Kerry's mother is the head of which is such conflict of interest that it should not be allowed. I think that the ISU should do something to keep skaters safe. I think that ISU should set up a hotline that skaters and other concerned individuals could call if they think that someone in the sport is truly a threat to other people. This could help because skaters would have another way to reach out for help if their own Federations will not take action.. The ISU could set clear rules on what actions will not be tolerated by their organization and anyone who violated the rules will not be allowed to participate in ISU events in any capacity for a period of time or for life. These bans would make sure that the offender will not be able to move to another country and go on like nothing wrong because that has happened because some countries do not care what some one has done if they can the results they want. Skaters need and deserve to be protected and the ISU needs to take steps to do so.

 

[Mathematician]

He wasn't coaching in the US because he left because he was being investigated. (ETA: I admit this is my presumption. He left California in November 2017. He left for, of all places, Moscow. The article cited below says he was a registered coach in the US).

He was also, at that time, a full time athlete. No one with a choice, for whom money was the main object, would choose to coach figure skating in Australia, as lovely a country as it is, over the US.

Nothing in the bill authorizing the creation of SafeSport mentions "bringing justice". Rather the goal is "promoting a safe environment in sports that is free from abuse of amateur athletes"

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/534

The ban is issued to prevent further interaction with skaters and further abuse of persons in the skating community.

Ok so I see your evidence that this committee isnt dedicated to bringing justice. But if the point is to protect people then well people still arent being protected if hes not even coaching in USA. It just means that Australian students are vulnerable instead of American students. So whats the difference? He needs discipline in his own country either way.

And then my earlier point is still that in theory a ban should simultaneously be a justice measure and there was nothing close to proportional justice here, and that is still an issue to me.

Clearly this guy is chilling in Australia and has been for a while. I dont really care if he lost out on a few extra bucks. If his career is virtually unaffected in Australia then there isnt any justice.

 

[cheerknithanson]

I feel terrible for Gracie. Went through so much. Eating disorder, this, and other stuff...her coming back after all of that is admirable. I'm glad I got to see her skate twice before. And been able to talk to her twice.

Brendan....now it makes me skin crawl that I've seen him skate in person twice...disgusting.

 

[el henry]

Ok so I see your evidence that this committee isnt dedicated to bringing justice. But if the point is to protect people then well people still arent being protected if hes not even coaching in USA. It just means that Australian students are vulnerable instead of American students. So whats the difference? He needs discipline in his own country either way.

And then my earlier point is still that in theory a ban should simultaneously be a justice measure and there was nothing close to proportional justice here, and that is still an issue to me.

Clearly this guy is chilling in Australia and has been for a while. I dont really care if he lost out on a few extra bucks. If his career is virtually unaffected in Australia then there isnt any justice.

This is true about students in Australia . Sadly, the US Congress can do nothing about students there, nor can SafeSport. That is up to Australian authorities.

I was not talking about a "few extra bucks". I was talking about the ability to actually earn a living coaching figure skating. Possible in the US. Not so much in Australia.

"Proportional justice", in terms of punishment, would be a matter for criminal statutes, not for Safe Sport. Nothing SafeSport or its Australian equivalent can do will effect that.

 

[moonvine]

He’s been known as predatory in some skating circles for years. Gracie didn’t mention him by name in the book, but the details she provided meant some of us guessed it was him.

Yes I was 99.5% sure. Sorry to have been right.

 

[Mathematician]

This is true about students in Australia . Sadly, the US Congress can do nothing about students there, nor can SafeSport. That is up to Australian authorities.

I was not talking about a "few extra bucks". I was talking about the ability to actually earn a living coaching figure skating. Possible in the US. Not so much in Australia.

"Proportional justice", in terms of punishment, would be a matter for criminal statutes, not for Safe Sport. Nothing SafeSport or its Australian equivalent can do will effect that.

I was commenting under the assumption he is indeed making a living coaching skating in Australia. If its truly so bad that its not possible as you say then I dont know.

Perfect justice is up to authorities indeed, but it would still make a massive difference if he was banned in Australia because at least the girls can know he is totally barred from their sport, ex-communicated or anathematized you could say from the world that is scared to them and also what he has dedicated his life to because of what he did. It would definitely mean a lot versus what is basically nothing right now.

 

[TallyT]

Brendan....now it makes me skin crawl that I've seen him skate in person twice...disgusting.

I think we have to be a little easy on ourselves, though, as fans who didn't know and had no reason to know: one of my favourite TV series as a child did an episode affectionately ribbing Rolf Harris, which was widely loved. And it - and a lot of other shows - have now had to cut any reference or bury the episode. (He also did a wobbleboard version of Stairway to Heaven that hit the UK Top Ten, and which two members of Led Zeppelin loved. At the time. Now of course.......) There were people on this and other forums who were huge, adoring fans of Kerry (or Cipres or so on). No fault of theirs. There are skaters who can do nothing about the happy, chummy pictures of them or complimentary soundbytes of people later shown to be awful.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

This is true about students in Australia . Sadly, the US Congress can do nothing about students there, nor can SafeSport. That is up to Australian authorities.

I was not talking about a "few extra bucks". I was talking about the ability to actually earn a living coaching figure skating. Possible in the US. Not so much in Australia.

"Proportional justice", in terms of punishment, would be a matter for criminal statutes, not for Safe Sport. Nothing SafeSport or its Australian equivalent can do will effect that.

It actually is possible to "earn a living" coaching in Australia. Many US and Canadian coaches have gone there, hence the field of Aussie ice dancers, and so on coming up through the ranks.

 

[lileychristie]

Official statement from the Aussie fed:


Nothing much other than the standard "we are currently investigating, no further comments."

Still baffles me that they had no prior knowledge of the investigation and only became aware upon the sanction release.....
I would've thought US SafeSport needed to contact the the federation he's representing, but who knows what actually happened.

 

[anonymoose_au]

I think we have to be a little easy on ourselves, though, as fans who didn't know and had no reason to know: one of my favourite TV series as a child did an episode affectionately ribbing Rolf Harris, which was widely loved. And it - and a lot of other shows - have now had to cut any reference or bury the episode. (He also did a wobbleboard version of Stairway to Heaven that hit the UK Top Ten, and which two members of Led Zeppelin loved. At the time. Now of course.......) There were people on this and other forums who were huge, adoring fans of Kerry (or Cipres or so on). No fault of theirs. There are skaters who can do nothing about the happy, chummy pictures of them or complimentary soundbytes of people later shown to be awful.

I was just thinking about this myself...

This was on ABC News (the Australian ABC not the US one) and my mother and I were stunned.

Brendan Kerry began skating in the ice rink I now go to and I once saw him in a show there and it was all very exciting, I even got his autograph but now it feels all wrong and gross. But there was no way of knowing at the time.

It stinks though, when someone you admire turns out to be a terrible person.

I'm very sorry that Gracie and the other skater had to go through this and that it took so long for it to come out. I hope this sanction can bring them some closure.

 

[saine]

Official statement from the Aussie fed:


Nothing much other than the standard "we are currently investigating, no further comments."

Still baffles me that they had no prior knowledge of the investigation and only became aware upon the sanction release.....
I would've thought US SafeSport needed to contact the the federation he's representing, but who knows what actually happened.

Looking at the SafeSport procedures (here), they inform the parties that they consider "need to know" at the regional, state and local level.

I would hope they'd consider ISA as need to know, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't. It really feels like communication is broken with safe sport investigations. A federation should not be making a statement that they were unaware of an investigation and only found out with the rest of us.

 

[TallyT]

I hate to be cynical but having been vaguely aware (not a sports fan in general here) of the not so admirable side of Aussie sports for a long time, if Safesport were to come out and flatly contradict ISA, my money would be on the former.

On the other hand, the major press here are all reporting it, especially the 'with a minor aspect'; not only has his mother stepped down from the board but his step father has apparently been suspended from the board (Nine World of Sports) and he's been stood down from his coaching job (Herald Sun).

 

[el henry]

I was commenting under the assumption he is indeed making a living coaching skating in Australia. If its truly so bad that its not possible as you say then I dont know.

Perfect justice is up to authorities indeed, but it would still make a massive difference if he was banned in Australia because at least the girls can know he is totally barred from their sport, ex-communicated or anathematized you could say from the world that is scared to them and also what he has dedicated his life to because of what he did. It would definitely mean a lot versus what is basically nothing right now.

Brendan is fortunate in that his parents own an ice rink, or so I understand. So he is not scrambling for students as others might. However, it looks as though on paper at least his parents are giving up their positions in AusFed while the ISI investigation is completed.

Totally agree about the safety for Australian skaters. When multiple jurisdictions are involved in any legal, quasi-legal or investigative proceeding, that is always an issue.