tw: sexual abuse, tw: pedophilia
hey all, i’ve been talking about this on my side blog but i thought it was important that i shared.
about a week ago, US figure skater john coughlin committed suicide. predictably messages of love and support were tweeted and shared by the figure skating community. but a lot of them were completely dismissing the circumstances leading to his death.
from christine brennan’s USA today article:
“On Dec. 17, his eligibility to participate in his sport was restricted by SafeSport pending final resolution of a matter concerning him that was presented to the center. USA TODAY reported that news on Jan. 7. The next day, Coughlin resigned as U.S. brand manager for John Wilson Blades, a major skate blade company.
Then, on Thursday, SafeSport elevated his disciplinary record to “Interim Suspension.” USFS immediately followed with a temporary suspension of its own, prohibiting him from participating “in any capacity, in any activity or competition” authorized or organized by USFS or the U.S. Olympic Committee.”
for those that don’t know, SafeSport is an organization created in 2017 by USOC. here is what they do according to their website:
The U.S. Center for SafeSport is an independent nonprofit committed to ending all forms of abuse in sport. This includes bullying, harassment, hazing, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and sexual misconduct and abuse. The Center is the first and only national organization of its kind. The Center provides services to sport entities on abuse prevention techniques, policies and programs and provides a safe, professional and confidential place for individuals to report sexual abuse within the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movements.
giving more detail about the investigation, from another one of christine brennan’s articles:
“John Coughlin, the two-time U.S. pairs figure skating champion who took his life Friday, was facing three reports of sexual misconduct against him, two of them involving minors, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to talk publicly about the matter.“
MINORS. not only has he been accused of sexual abuse, but two MINORS have come forward. and yet SafeSport might not continue the investigation.
from yet ANOTHER one of christine brennan’s articles:
“Although John Coughlin, the two-time U.S. pairs figure skating champion who took his life Friday, is still officially suspended by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, it’s “unlikely” that SafeSport will continue to investigate the allegations against him, a spokesman for the Center said Sunday afternoon.
“I think it’s unlikely given the Center’s mission,” Dan Hill said in a telephone interview. “We are not a punitive body. When someone is suspended, it is to keep individuals safe. It’s all about the safety of the reporting party. In this instance, sadly, the safety issue isn’t there now.”
in addition to christine brennan’s stories, the skating lesson posted a video with her talking about the allegations. it has since been deleted because some people who believe john was innocent started sending death threats to dave lease, an interviewer for TSL, for reporting the truth. he also has since decided not to show up to nationals this weekend because he fears for his life.
the sending of death threats was encouraged by dalilah sappenfield, long-time coach of john coughlin. she posted what was probably the most vicitm-blaming post i’ve ever seen in my life on facebook (honestly be careful reading it, it made me sick to my stomach). you can find more people posting tribute posts to him here.
when people starting tweeting at figure skaters and supporters of john asking them to acknowledge the survivors, many of them turned hostile, like chris knierim, or some simply started deleting comments. here is where you find the complete list of garbage people in figure skating who have supported john. within the list, it’s divided into a number of categories that details how much support they gave towards john. also be warned: it’s long.
and at the US national championships, during the pairs short program, figure skaters (mostly students of dalilah) wore KC chiefs hats in “support” of john, knowing that one of his survivors was present at the competition.
not only were they wearing hats in support of an abuser, but dalilah sappenfield, the devil herself, was wearing an indigo ribbon in the kiss and cry.
The Indigo Ribbon Campaign raises awareness about crimes committed against Targeted Individuals of Organized Stalking and Electronic Harassment.
how fucking despicable. as a coach, dalilah is considered a MANDATORY REPORTER of any sort of abuse, and yet, she is acting like john is the victim here and is trying to gain sympathy for her piece of shit student.
if you have a twitter, please get involved in the conversation. people are flooding the tags #USChamps19 #SkaterSurvivors #ProtectOurJournalists and #USFSA, as well as directly tweeting @ USFigureSkating. so far, they’ve only issued brief and vague statements at a press conference, but we want to make sure they follow through on their word. other than those watered down statements, they’ve shown very little sympathy towards the survivors during champs, as shown by the behavior of skaters above.
we are also urging SafeSport to continue their investigation. the survivors deserve justice, even if john is dead. it’s truly despicable to watch an organization and a community completely ignore victims of sexual abuse, while propping up the literal pedophile who committed the acts.
please don’t let this become a larry nassar situation. people BELIEVED him at first, only to find out there were hundreds of victims. this type of culture has been going on for far too long within figure skating. we need to end it.
