Fellow Figure Skater Defends Ilia Malinin When Internet Uses Teenage Remarks Against Him
Ilia Malinin had a rough weekend on social media. But, one of his fellow figure skaters stepped up on his behalf during the firestorm.
People uncovered some social media posts from when Malinin was a teenager. A fan asked Ilia if he needed to prove he was straight. The skater responded, “Bro, you know, let’s be honest, I can’t be straight anymore because I need those (artistic) component scores up, you know. I gotta say that I’m not straight, that way my components are gonna go up.” He’s taking a beating for it. On X, Theo Foxx clearly had enough. He stood up for Malinin amidst all this media attention.
“One of us is a gay man in the figure skating world & thus in a position to accept Ilia’s apologies for a thoughtless comment made as a teen. It’s not you,” Foxx quickly clarified. “Claiming that I am ‘bending over backward for a pretty face’ in response to me defending him as a TEENAGER is revolting. ”
But, as more people struggled to understand where he was coming from, the skater decided to make it abundantly clear where he stood. Both Foxx and Malinin have a shared past with respect to training. So, he might have more a clue about the Olympic athlete than someone sitting there on the outside looking in!
Foxx added, “I think some folks need to reread the part of my original post where I very explicitly state that I am a gay skater WHO HAS SHARED ICE WITH HIM. I have literally trained at the same rinks. In every single way, I have more of a right to make a judgement on this matter than YOU.” Heard!
What is going on with Ilia Malinin?
Well, it’s complicated. He was a prospective favorite headed into the men’s skating competition. On social, they call Malinin the “Quad God,” a name he gave himself. But, his performance was pretty much disastrous. The Olympian fell multiple times during his routine and that only intensified the public scrutiny. Coming in 8th place is a bit of a shock when you had such high hopes headed in. But, hopefully, Malinin is in a good place right now mentally.
Years ago, when he became the first person in history to land a quadruple axel in competition, the skater apologized for those comments as a teenager. But, the Internet never really forgets. So, that all has come back to bite him in this moment. Still, he put out that apology and a letter to U.S. Figure Skating that was reported on by USA Today.
Ilia Malinin apologizes for his previous comments about gay skaters
Malinin began, “Earlier today, during an Instagram Live question/answer viewed by fans and followers, I made some inaccurate and frankly embarrassing commentary linking sexual orientation and scoring by judges in our sport.”
“While I posted an immediate apology to the viewers for my immaturity, I also now want to additionally apologize to our governing body, the judges and my fellow competitors for even inserting such ill-advised commentary in our competitions,” he added. “I have no evidence or reason to believe that I have been impacted in my scoring due to my heterosexual orientation. And, I would hope no competitor would be penalized for such private matters regardless of orientation.”
(featured image: Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
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