TRAILER: To Russia With Love

From the press materials:

To Russia With Love, an EPIX Original Documentary about two generations of Olympic LGBT athletes, will make its world premiere on Wednesday, October 29 at 8PM ET. To Russia With Love examines human rights through the lens of LGBT athletes, with iconoclastic athlete and commentator Johnny Weir serving as the viewers’ guide into this world. The documentary examines the experiences of Olympic legends Billie Jean King and Greg Louganis as well as the next generation of LGBT athletes who participated in the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Shooting worldwide in locations as diverse as Sochi, New York City, Calgary, Toronto, St. Petersburg and Moscow, the film follows these athletes from the ice to the slopes as they bear the brunt of constant media questioning about Russia’s anti-gay laws.

Make It Stop

If you can bear it.

TMZ Headline Of The Day

Probably like many of you, I don't find the ugly details of celebrity relationship squabbles to be very interesting, but what is interesting is that gossip sites and tabloids are treating gay celebrity spats with the same vicious panting that they exhibit when reporting on straight feuds. And mostly they are doing so without leering speculation about bedroom habits or denouncements of sexual orientation. We wouldn't have seen that not too long ago.

Johnny Weir Splits With Husband

Weir came out publicly in January 2011 and married Victor Voronov in December of that year. Radar Online notes that the split comes two weeks after a court dismissed a domestic violence charge made by Voronov.

Before Sochi, where he commentated for NBC, Weir had managed to keep a major secret: He was involved in a domestic violence with Voronov that would later have its courtroom sequel on March 4. About a month before the games in Russia, Weir’s husband filed a police report in which he alleged the three-time U.S. national champion of biting him. Despite the allegations, the couple had appeared to have worked out their differences when they appeared in a Lyndhurst, New Jersey, courtroom, requesting a judge dismiss the case.

Jim Parsons Plays Johnny Weir On SNL

Don Lemon Defends Johnny Weir

Yesterday Bilerico editor John Becker and CNN anchor Don Lemon tangled over whether Johnny Weir has a responsibility to denounce Russia's treatment of LGBT people.

Lemon stood up for Weir and argued that just because he’s gay doesn’t automatically mean he has to be vocal about gay rights all the time. John Becker took a decidedly different position, saying that just because someone is gay “doesn’t automatically make you an expert on LGBT rights,” and slammed Weir’s “ludicrously offensive” downplaying of just how bad the situation is for gays in Russia. Nicholas Benton, a friend of Weir’s, defended him and said he’s making an “important statement” not by speaking out, but through his behavior and his flamboyant attire. Lemon said Weir shouldn’t have to speak out. He argued, “It doesn’t make him a gay activist, nor should he have to be a gay activist because he’s gay.” That being said, Lemon did opine a bit about the idea of a “gay minstrel show” that doesn’t exactly help the cause either.

Becker: "Silence in the face of that law is tacit agreement with that law." Exactly. Watch the clip.

HomoQuotable - Johnny Weir

"I've come under so much hate and scrutiny from within my own LGBT community for my views on the Olympics. But as somebody who watched my parents sacrifice everything so that I had at least one chance of making the Olympics, I could never boycott the Olympics whether they be in Pyongyang (in North Korea), in Uganda, in Iran or Mars. I would have competed there because my whole life has been about going to the Olympics. Being gay isn't something that I chose, being gay is something I was born into. But being an Olympic athlete was something that I chose and something I worked hard for and I'll see it to any necessary end. The entire Olympic team is not made up of LGBT people. It's people who've sacrificed their livelihoods, it's people who've sacrificed their parents' finances and health and sometimes even marriages to get that one chance at glory. As an athlete who's lived it, I could never turn my face to that. While equality is necessary all over the world, the Olympics is not the place for me to make a stand."- Johnny Weir, speaking to Reuters.

NBC Backs Johnny Weir's Apology

Earlier today I posted Johnny Weir's apology for calling Queer Nation activists "idiots."  NBC has now issued a short statement about the flap. Via Deadline: “We’re supportive of Johnny’s apology for his choice of words last night in an emotional setting. As we’ve previously stated, NBC will cover all newsworthy issues as they are relevant to the Games, including the LGBT law.”

HomoQuotable - Johnny Weir

"I was speaking at a university and called a small group of people protesting my speech, idiots, for no other reason that my tongue getting away from me. This kind of talk is usually relegated to the safety of my own friend groupings and family but for some reason, I felt like a threatened underdog and needed to take a dig at the people who had me on edge. At the end of my speech I opened the floor to a Q&A and it turned out that those very people protesting my speech, were actually friends of the faculty and brave LGBT activists who stood in the same room as me. I felt, and still feel, a great deal of remorse for allowing myself to insult other people, fighting in their own way, and for using insulting words instead of my usual cheerleading antics for one and all. [snip] I have put my foot in my mouth before, and I probably will many times over, but it doesn’t change the fact that I stooped to fighting by slinging insults rather than being proud of my own voice and achievements and saying, my opinion matters too. I showed myself a lesser version of myself that night, and I’m glad I learned from it." - Johnny Weir, writing for the Falls Church News-Press. (Via Towleroad)

Johnny Weir: Gay Activists Are Idiots

Andy Humm reports at Gay City News:

Former Olympic skater Johnny Weir was picketed by Queer Nation outside his talk at Barnard College December 2 for his position that “the Olympics are not the place to make a political statement” about Russia’s anti-gay laws and “you have to respect the culture of a country you are visiting.” During his talk he spoke of “idiots like the ones outside tonight, dumping vodka in the street,” action he dismissed as useless. “They say all these stupid things,” he told the audience of about 40 Barnard women students. “I never supported the [Russian] government. I supported the people.”

The banner outside, made and held by Gilbert Baker, creator of the Rainbow Flag, among others, stated in blood red, “Weir: Russian Olympic Clown; N.B.C.: Naïve Bloody Collaborators.” [snip] “We’re angry at him for not telling the truth about what’s going on in Russia to LGBT Russians and everybody else who dissents, who are being brutalized,” said Ann Northrop of Queer Nation at the protest. “He is selling out millions of people to satisfy his desire not to forgo his income or status. Is this what he would have done in Germany in 1936?”

Read Humm's full article.

Image source.

HomoQuotable - Ken Kidd

"Johnny Weir is an insufferable, entitled twit, to say the least. Fine. But he's NBC's Token Olympic Gay, and many people's only perceived authority on Putin's Russia. So when he starts peppering his NBC color commentary with lies, gently but confidently faux-explaining how 'it's really not so bad over there' and 'what a shame' that a small number of troublemakers have to 'put a black cloud over (Sochi) for everyone,' he becomes a highly-paid, highly dishonest, highly dangerous quisling. Shame." - Queer Nation member Ken Kidd, writing on Facebook.

Olympian Johnny Weir Retires, Hired To Be Figure Skating Commentator At Sochi

NBC reports:

Two-time Olympic figure skater and three-time U.S. champion Johnny Weir is hanging up the skates and picking up the mic. Weir is retiring from competition and joining NBC Olympics as a figure skating analyst for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, he announced on TODAY Wednesday. The skating star, who is openly gay and married to a Russian man, also gave his take on Russia's controversial Russian anti-gay laws. Weir has been opposed to calls for a boycott of the Sochi Olympics because he feels it would negate the efforts of athletes who have worked hard to reach the Games.

Here's this morning's Today Show appearance.

No Sochi Olympics For Johnny Weir

Last week Johnny Weir sounded very much like he hoped to compete at the Sochi Olympics. But today skating officials confirmed that the deadline to sign up to compete for the American team was two weeks ago. And Weir did not register.

It appears Johnny Weir‘s Olympic figure skating career is over. The two-time Olympian did not register for a qualifying event for the U.S. Championships by a Sept. 1 deadline, U.S. Figure Skating confirmed. The Associated Press first reported the news. The Olympic team will be selected from the U.S. Championships in Boston beginning Jan. 9. Two U.S. men will make the team for the Olympics in February. Weir, 29, a three-time U.S. champion, can’t receive a bye into nationals, either. Only figure skaters who placed in the top five at the 2013 nationals or medaled at the 2010 Olympics or 2013 World Championships are eligible for byes, according to the AP.

Weir had been considered a long shot to make the team.

Johnny Weir: I'm Ready To Be Arrested

HomoQuotable - Johnny Weir

"The fact that Russia is arresting my people, and openly hating a minority and violating human rights all over the place is heartbreaking and a travesty of international proportions. I respect the LGBT community full heartedly, but I implore the world not to boycott the Olympic Games because of Russia’s stance on LGBT rights or lack thereof. I beg the gay athletes not to forget their missions and fight for a chance to dazzle the world.

"Olympics are history, and they do not represent their host, they represent the world entire. People make their own futures, and should a government or sponsor steal that future, whether it be a Russian government or American government, it is, as an athlete, the death and total demolition of a lifetime of work. Support the athletes. There isn’t a police officer or a government that, should I qualify, could keep me from competing at the Olympics." - Johnny Weir, speaking to the Falls Church News-Press.

Johnny Weir Got Married

Johnny Weir Is Big In Japan

Not only does ice princess Johnny Weir have a pop single, this week it's #1 in Japan. Here's a fan-made clip set to the track, Dirty Love.

Johnny Weir: I'm Sexually Gay, But....

Saying that he's sick of pressure from gay websites to come out, Johnny Weir uses his forthcoming memoir to finally allow that while he's sexually gay, he'd totally marry a woman if she was right for him. And very understanding about the whole "we're not gonna fuck" thing.

COVER SHOT: The Out 100 Of 2010

Out Magazine sends us the cover for the 16th annual Out 100 issue.

Entertainer of the Year — Ricky Martin: “I am Hispanic, and I am a gay man, and they both struggle. Is it a big responsibility? It can be as big as I want it to be,” Martin tells Out. Embracing both fatherhood and new status as a gay role model, Martin, who opens up in his new memoir, Me, looks forward to teaching his twin boys acceptance and love and a day when he proudly walks them down the red carpet!

Diva of the Year — Johnny Weir: “Every little boy should be so lucky as to turn into me,” Weir declared unapologetically after two Canadian broadcasters suggested he undergo a “gender test” during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. With his flair for flamboyance and commitment to glamour, Weir never shies away from controversy—or pageantry.

Artist of the Year — Julianne Moore: “I don’t think a movie like The Kids Are All Right could be made if this wasn’t the way that families are living today all over the United States,” Moore states. The actress, a four-time Oscar nominee, began her activism some 25 years ago after her first experience with what would become the AIDS pandemic.

Newsmaker of the Year — Rachel Maddow: Growing up in the time of the AIDS pandemic gave Maddow a compelling perspective on the state of gay activism, especially now in the age of Obama. “We continue to have a sort of lackadaisical gay political movement that has a relationship with Democrat politicians that doesn’t serve gay rights: ‘We want to be close to you.’ Beautiful! But if we’re not getting anything for that, then it’s actually counterproductive.”

Stylemaker of the Year – Nate Berkus: Oprah protégé Berkus recently became the first openly gay man to host a daily nationally syndicated television show, and the guru is not taking that responsibility lightly. “Having a daily show is an opportunity for me not to push a political agenda, but to speak out for tolerance and understanding and equality,” he notes.

Johnny Weir Speaks At Equality California

Olympian Johnny Weir spoke an event for Equality California on Sunday. He refers to "this community, us, our people" but still hasn't formally come out.