Johnny Weir's excellent retort — to criticism of his Olympics-celebrating hairstyle and outfit

© 2021 Peter Free

 

09 August 2021

 

 

If you can draw attention to yourself . . .

 

. . . and then defend your provocative panache with intelligence, kudos.

 

 

For example, yesterday

 

NBC commentator (and former bronze medalist ice skater) Johnny Weir wore a hairstyle and an outfit that were, arguably, a bit over the Television Top at coverage of the Tokyo Olympics' closing ceremony.

 

See pictures, here and here.

 

 

Weir's appearance drew Trump election lawyer, Jenna Ellis's disapproving attention

 

Naturally (being a lawyer and a Trump one, at that) she spoke out:

 

 

First:

 

#WokeOlympics closing ceremony clown. How appropriate and utterly embarrassing.

 

Second:

 

Bring back the days when boys cared about growing up to be actual men. Biblical masculinity over woke fragility.

 

 

The curmudgeon ('pull your darn pants up') part of me . . .

 

. . . might instinctively have commiserated with Ellis's points. But I happen to like Johnny Weir's bloom-like, 'doubters be darned', effervescence. It is hard to be sharp with someone who bubbles.

 

 

And then, game-set-match . . .

 

. . . Johnny nailed the humanity-supporting equivalent of a quintuple jump by retorting that:

 

 

The man I’ve grown into is a human that embraces the strength of the man & woman who raised me to be myself.

 

If you feel squashed by the boot of someone else’s beliefs, remember you are free to live your life the way you believe.

 

Also, religion isn’t an excuse for hate.

 

 

Admittedly

 

Weir's last line is questionable. Religion (for the most part) is and always has been an excuse to revile the Other, in whatever form.

 

 

Admirably

 

Weir credits his parents — of both biological genders, take note — for raising him to be independently self-expressive.

 

Excessive self-expression can be or become narcissistic. Nevertheless, Weir forwarded a persuasive reply to Ellis's criticism. Especially so, for those of us who are tired of humanity's sheep-like tendency to follow mean-spirited stupidity wherever it goes.

 

For instance, I do not think anyone, ever, thought that Johnny Weir was going to become a Marine Corps warrior for the Bible. Or anything else.

 

Weir's flower patch is parsed from a different ecology. I have trouble seeing the 'bed' that he cultivates (so to speak) as being societally damaging. Especially so, when viewed in the comparatively light-hearted manner with which Weir flaunts Life's metaphorical petals.

 

 

The moral? — Beware insulting the wrong gardens

 

A clever retort can make an unnecessarily judgmental fool's lances look weak and misbegotten.