Weir's Agent Caught in a Lie
Weir Not Off the Hook
The New York Times
excerpt from: Triple Axels Secure Title and Confidence
By JULIET MACUR
Johnny Weir’s costume at the United States figure skating championships featured white tufts of fox fur on his left shoulder.Elaine Thompson/Associated Press Johnny Weir’s costume at the United States figure skating championships featured white tufts of fox fur on his left shoulder.
Friends of Animals, the international animal rights group based in Connecticut, is not happy with the figure skater Johnny Weir — again. And this time it’s not because he wears fur.
With about two weeks left before the Vancouver Games, Weir switched his long-program costume from one with genuine white fox fur to one with faux fox fur. In a statement Thursday, Weir said that “pressures and threats from a certain animal rights group” had prompted him to make the change.
His agent, Tara Modlin, had said Friends of Animals had sent “some very scary, threatening e-mails” to her, to Weir through his Facebook page and to Weir’s costume designer regarding the fur-accented costume. She said Weir was afraid for his safety at the Olympic Games.
But Priscilla Feral, the president of Friends of Animals, said Friday that those statements have unfairly characterized the group, a nonprofit organization that has existed since 1957. She said the organization never threatened Weir. It was the white Arctic fox used for Weir’s costume, not Weir, who was victimized here, she said.
“All we did was write him an open letter,” Feral said. “Was it stark, yes? But it was written with care. Was there public outcry? Oh yes, there was. But we didn’t have anything to do with threats of violence. There was a firestorm of reaction. He was hearing from hordes of people.”
Friends of Animals reached out to Weir, his costume designer and his agent only to fax or e-mail the open letter and then to send the news release regarding the open letter.
“There was no other communication,” she said.
When asked Friday to show the threatening e-mail messages that she or Weir had received regarding the fur costume, Modlin said she had deleted them. She also said that neither she nor Weir had contacted Facebook security to notify it of abusive messages Weir had received, nor had they called the police about the threats.
“The e-mails are not pleasant,” Modlin said. “I don’t want Johnny reading unpleasant e-mails. I want him to focus on skating. I hope this makes those people stop.”
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9 Comments
On January 31, 2010, kram wrote:
Odd? threatening emails from an organization…and they didn’t save or archive them or send them to the police. uh…yeah..
On January 31, 2010, Valerie wrote:
Um.. can you say liar?
On February 1, 2010, Peter Hood wrote:
The typical, time-honored tactic of the abuser, is to attempt to impugn the reputation of animal rights groups. It won’t carry much weight however, accusing FoA, which has no reputation of such activity, and even less so, with a startlingly lame excuse that they were deleted to protect the oh-so vulnerable Mr. Weir. If Ms. Modlin had indeed received Emails, she most certainly would have made use of them. She foolishly makes her client look even worse.
On February 1, 2010, Bob Orabona, Friends of Animals wrote:
According to ESPN “news” coverage on Weir, “The death toll in Haiti is more than 150,000. Soldiers are dying in Afghanistan and Iraq. One in 10 Americans are unemployed and homeless shelters are swelling. But hey, Johnny Weir wore a piece of fur on his costume! We can’t have that!”
So why is Weir spending money on fur? Let him sell his furs and donate the money to support the earthquake victims, the soldiers, the unemployed and homeless. Then both the animals and the people win, and Weir will have earned something more valuable than gold.
On February 2, 2010, Dustin Rhodes, Friends of Animals wrote:
Great point, Bob.
Trying to take the fur issue, and why wearing fur is wrong, and illogically turn the discussion into something else—i.e. accusations that animal advocates are anti-human—is merely a device of distraction, and has no basis in reality.
On February 2, 2010, Katie wrote:
Hear hear Dustin. Not only that, there is room in our lives for helping everyone, human or non-human.
On February 8, 2010, Alicia Armstrong wrote:
How convenient.
Typical Pr spin- Say its because they are getting threatened rather than ever admit being at fault or people having a point about them funding cruelty by using fur.
On March 22, 2010, Cecelia Hancock wrote:
One wonders how anyone in the USA hasn’t heard that wearing real fur is a no-no. But little children can’t tell the difference from afar. I respect the people and organizations who are trying to make a difference in our world but are ridiculed at every turn. I’m 66 now & do what I can to help here in Colorado. Keep up the good work world organizations, you are appreciated!
On March 26, 2011, veganeze wrote:
That’s not the only lie she’s told; including to her client, Johnny Weir. Notice he’s not on the list as fit to compete. That says it all. An agent or manager’s primary goal should be to get their client into top competitive shape. Ms. Modlin’s ability to serve should have come under fire by ISU and other skating organizations a long time ago. I thought they had guidelines for how agents and managers should behave and serve their clients.