We are halfway through Season 26 of Dancing With the Stars, but even on such a condensed season, controversy still arises.
Figure skater Adam Rippon talked to Entertainment Tonight this week about his Dancing With the Stars competitor Tonya Harding. Rippon said, "I can't imagine what it's like to be her and have everybody just not want anything to do with you, so I think that it's really nice that she gets to have a moment."
He also added, “But I think it's also important that we remember that she was banned from skating for a reason.”
Tonya Harding was forced to resign from the United States Figure Skating Association in 1994 after pleading guilty to hindering the prosecution process in the case of figure skating rival Nancy Kerrigan being attacked by her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly.
Since Rippon’s remarks, Harding’s DWTS partner, Sasha Farber, has come out saying, “Tonya’s name has become a household one again and there are negative comments out there. You’re always going to get that, but she’s such a strong women and a role model because she gets so much criticism and she comes back harder and harder each time. That’s why I love working with her and teaching her each week,” according to Us Weekly.
Farber has also allegedly liked comments on Instagram that claimed that Rippon’s comments on Harding were rude. Instagram user nkbuck1 said, “please tell Adam to keep his ugly snarky comments about [Harding] to himself!”
It seems as though the comments have been deleted.
Many users on social media have been saying that Farber was inappropriate for liking those comments on Instagram. Others agree with the sentiment that Rippon was inappropriate with his comments.
Farber posted on Twitter, “Reading comments online, but it hurts more when it comes from people you work with OUCH :( All good moving on it’s going to be an awesome day.”
Val Chmerkovskiy, another pro from Dancing With the Stars and the boyfriend of Rippon’s dancing partner Jenna Johnson, went on to Twitter later and said, “Sad to see someone try to bring others down by starting unnecessary drama instead of just addressing the issue in person just to stay anywhere near relevant. But i guess it hurts even more when it comes from the people you work with. Ouch. 🤷🏻 all good moving on.”
It is not confirmed about whether or not these comments are connected to each other.
So...what do we bloggers think about this?
Bentley I totally get it if someone has an opinion on something. And I understand if they want to talk about that opinion publicly. We as humans should have the right to do that as long as it is not threatening, and, from an ethical standpoint, in good taste.
Personally, I don’t care whether or not somebody feels a certain way towards Tonya Harding. Love her or hate her, I don’t care. I think that if she did have something to do with the Nancy Kerrigan attack (and I think it’s likely), that is absolutely awful, and it was right for her to banned from figure skating. And I do think that it’s a bit over the top to be glorifying the whole Tonya sympathy card on Dancing With the Stars, but we’ve seen that card played many times before, so I’m not surprised. The attack aside (which I am not saying we should should just forget about it), I think Tonya is pretty okay. I’m not crazy about her, but y’know. Just my opinion.
I just find it crazy that people are still so argumentative about something that happened so long ago. Yes, you are free to state your opinion as much and however much you want (more power to you if you do), but it’s kind of ridiculous how nasty people are being about it. I’m not saying to stop talking about the subject if you don’t want to… just be decent about it.
Anyway, do I think what Adam said is bad? Not at all. Do I think Sasha was inappropriate for going to Twitter about this? Maybe, but it’s really none of my business and I don’t really care all that much about it. Was Val out of line for stepping in on Twitter, too? I guess. But is it really that big of a deal? Maybe there’s more to the story that I don’t know about.
I’m just glad that both Sasha and Val said that they can move on. That’s all that really matters, right? They shouldn’t let something that doesn’t even involve them cause bad blood between them.
Julia I didn’t really mind Adam’s comments; it’s more the pros I’m having an issue with here. I just wish they would be more mindful of their social media activity. They just keep adding fuel to a fire that never should have started. I agree with the sentiments about “moving on” but if they were going to do that then why tweet about it in the first place?
And It’s not just the firsthand comments that are the problem; this is not the first time Sasha has liked malicious comments on Instagram and he should know better than to just do that with every single comment that takes his side on something. Also, Val needs to not get involved in matters that aren’t his business so much (I know Adam is his girlfriend’s partner, but Jenna is capable of handling the situation, if she even feels she needs to do so).
Side Note: I actually don’t even like that we’re doing this article because in my opinion it’s another case of adding fuel to the fire but Bentley insisted we talk about it so here I am. :P
Oh, and Aljaz from Strictly Come Dancing is now getting involved in this by liking some of the tweets. Why? He’s not even on this show! Okay I’m done now.
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