It's no secret Virtue/Moir fans get queasy over photos of Scott and Jessica, whether they buy it as on the level or not. There are fans who try to force themselves to like Jessica Dube and "support" the "relationship" yet can't help wanting to vomit.
Even in photos Scott and Jessica don't fit. They are, one, an affront to intuition. And two, the mental gymnastics needed to make sense of it wears people out even before the weirdness, inconsistencies and contradictions in the behavior of all concerned come into play.
This unease is about Jessica. Not disappointment from fans led to believe Scott Moir is "dating" a girl who isn't Tessa Virtue. Fedor Andreev didn't get this reaction. Other sham romances don't either, not even from disappointed shippers.
Skate Canada/the skating community has used every rationale under the sun to explain Jessica except any that hold her accountable for anything. Skate Canada, which sets up, then punks fans on a regular basis, behaves immaturely itself, perhaps that's why it misses the obvious with Jessica that is gut level clear to many fans.
Back when this recently concluded Olympic cycle began, somebody decided the cute pairs girl would match up neatly with the precocious ice dance boy for the consumption of internet fans, and protect the actual personal lives of each team from the stress of too much scrutiny. The arrangement was so matchy matchy and cutesy it had the self-congratulatory Skate Canada stamp all over it. But, when setting this in motion, it was overlooked how flaunting the "relationship" online in aggressive photo bombing spams make both Scott and Jessica look like assholes in regard to Bryce.
No wonder when some fans claim they've seen Scott and Jessica crassly canoodling in front of Bryce, lots of people buy it. Sure. Look at all of the OTT facebook albums such as the icky Dominican photo shoot where the skaters' families and friends instantly add enthusiastic comments.
It was Bryce's idea for Jessica to skate singles during his rehabilitation and he hobbled on crutches to Western Challenge, his family in tow, to cheer on Jessica's miserable outing there. He put on pressed slacks and tie to support her Nationals appearance; traveling distances both times, and, as usual, was taken for granted, most of all by his erstwhile partner. Meantime it's announced via press release and a video interview with Jessica that "boyfriend Scott Moir" would choreograph Jessica's short. You can't make this shit up. Well, normal people can't. For the pr geniuses at Skate Canada, when Bryce has a crippling season-ending injury and must move back home with his parents at age 25 it's a no brainer - an opportunity to advertise Jessica and Scott!
Who raised these people?
Here, behavior is pretended that would never be considered if this situation were real, but lots of fans think it is and don't feel so great about it.
Anyone as obtuse as those managing this circus shouldn't ever have anything to do with public relations.
Now that Jessica has blindsided Bryce during his injury after he's stood by her during her frequent injuries, resistant work ethic, aversion to taking responsibility, moodiness, absent learning curve and unwillingness to undertake anything outside her limited comfort zone, fans on different skating boards are assuming it's because Jessica never enjoyed skating with Bryce after the "triangle" with Scott Moir they were led to believe existed.
Many fans don't understand that training habits affect the personal relationship between skating partners more than vice versa. To fans, Bryce must have made himself a burden on poor Jessica. Jessica's chronic bailing in performance is due to "the triangle with Scott Moir" and Bryce being a poor loser at love. Or it was the face slash. Or she's an introvert. She's special, beyond the criticism leveled at other underachieving figure skaters.
Jessica Dube does not have a confidence problem. She's spoiled. A starfish in a small French-Canadian bowl who wants the perks without the work. She's an archtypical case of reliance on natural talent and hoping things will play differently in performance than in training, shrugging when it does not, offloading responsibility to things beyond her control while everyone tries to cheer her up for how she's disappointed them.
Jessica was a flub-prone junior with promising basics - power and flow across the ice, good with jumps and throws. It was easy to imagine the flubs and mental walkabouts as junior level growing pains.When she ended her first partnership, new partners came to try out with her, and Bryce was the one who relocated, went to school online, learned a new language, joined her training centre. Jessica believes this is how things should always work and even after Bryce surpassed her as a skater and performer while coddling her, she resisted the realities.
Katia Gordeeva was and is an introvert and at 23 she was a married mother with two Olympic gold medals. Jessica Dube at 23 is coddled, humored, excused at every turn, jollied along and brightly encouraged like she's a fucking six-year-old, whether in the KissNCry or on her facebook wall and photo albums.
The reality is Olympics were over and she was out of excuses. If she wanted to continue to contend she'd have to work harder and Jessica Dube is not interested. She trained new features all summer and punked out at the first competition intended to unveil them. Naturally, she had a wrist issue that needed Bryce's attention. Look what happens when you make Jessica do something she doesn't want to do. She'll destroy a beautiful program like Carmen. She'll fall out of a sit spin. Two-foot the first of a double axel sequence and stare while Bryce does the second without even feigning an attempt at the second one herself.
Look what happens when Jessica has to work hard all summer and learn new stuff. Look what happens when Bryce gets injured and Jessica gets to play dilettante for a season. It's an opportunity to opt out and play dilettante for life.
Jessica Dube doesn't like doing something if she can't do it perfectly the first time and calls this being a perfectionist. Tatiana Volosozhar, a million times the pairs skater Jessica is, takes forever to learn a new throw, lift or spin. She perseveres til she gets it. That's real life.
Jessica's complacent self-absorption while explaining her decision to end her partnership with Bryce chilled even her fans. Particularly measured against the praise Bryce has always heaped upon her even when she was the one letting him down. Her remarks lacked empathy, grace, awareness and class. There was minimal acknowledgment of Bryce's experience. Yet Bryce will still absorb criticism from Jessica supporters who think the problem is he poorly managed Jessica's involvement with a famous male ice dancer.
I can't wait for the resumption of the sham now that Jessica has ditched Bryce and talks of his injury as a positive instigator of change in her life. Bryce is left to train alone and continue his recovery with an iffy athletic future while Jessica basks in the disproportionate fan attention and endorsement that comes from being seen as the romantic choice of a popular Canadian Olympic ice dance champion. Hey, if Scott Moir loves her, right? We can't judge - maybe it only looks like Bryce is the good guy and Jessica is the problem.
Bryce is the better skater, better performer, the loyal partner. Bryce provided unending support towards Jessica, and wrongly assumed the majority of responsibility for the face slash. If there's any justice he will find a terrific partner and achieve new heights, but it seldom works that way in figure skating. Skate Canada can be counted on to fund Jessica's singles training despite her age and being sixth at best in Canada; she'll receive assignments she doesn't deserve despite her only landing a two footed triple lutz at Nationals. Because it's Skate Canada which created the monster (in the literary sense) that is Jessica Dube, and persisted even after the writing was on the wall.
Even in photos Scott and Jessica don't fit. They are, one, an affront to intuition. And two, the mental gymnastics needed to make sense of it wears people out even before the weirdness, inconsistencies and contradictions in the behavior of all concerned come into play.
This unease is about Jessica. Not disappointment from fans led to believe Scott Moir is "dating" a girl who isn't Tessa Virtue. Fedor Andreev didn't get this reaction. Other sham romances don't either, not even from disappointed shippers.
Skate Canada/the skating community has used every rationale under the sun to explain Jessica except any that hold her accountable for anything. Skate Canada, which sets up, then punks fans on a regular basis, behaves immaturely itself, perhaps that's why it misses the obvious with Jessica that is gut level clear to many fans.
Back when this recently concluded Olympic cycle began, somebody decided the cute pairs girl would match up neatly with the precocious ice dance boy for the consumption of internet fans, and protect the actual personal lives of each team from the stress of too much scrutiny. The arrangement was so matchy matchy and cutesy it had the self-congratulatory Skate Canada stamp all over it. But, when setting this in motion, it was overlooked how flaunting the "relationship" online in aggressive photo bombing spams make both Scott and Jessica look like assholes in regard to Bryce.
No wonder when some fans claim they've seen Scott and Jessica crassly canoodling in front of Bryce, lots of people buy it. Sure. Look at all of the OTT facebook albums such as the icky Dominican photo shoot where the skaters' families and friends instantly add enthusiastic comments.
It was Bryce's idea for Jessica to skate singles during his rehabilitation and he hobbled on crutches to Western Challenge, his family in tow, to cheer on Jessica's miserable outing there. He put on pressed slacks and tie to support her Nationals appearance; traveling distances both times, and, as usual, was taken for granted, most of all by his erstwhile partner. Meantime it's announced via press release and a video interview with Jessica that "boyfriend Scott Moir" would choreograph Jessica's short. You can't make this shit up. Well, normal people can't. For the pr geniuses at Skate Canada, when Bryce has a crippling season-ending injury and must move back home with his parents at age 25 it's a no brainer - an opportunity to advertise Jessica and Scott!
Who raised these people?
Here, behavior is pretended that would never be considered if this situation were real, but lots of fans think it is and don't feel so great about it.
Anyone as obtuse as those managing this circus shouldn't ever have anything to do with public relations.
Now that Jessica has blindsided Bryce during his injury after he's stood by her during her frequent injuries, resistant work ethic, aversion to taking responsibility, moodiness, absent learning curve and unwillingness to undertake anything outside her limited comfort zone, fans on different skating boards are assuming it's because Jessica never enjoyed skating with Bryce after the "triangle" with Scott Moir they were led to believe existed.
Many fans don't understand that training habits affect the personal relationship between skating partners more than vice versa. To fans, Bryce must have made himself a burden on poor Jessica. Jessica's chronic bailing in performance is due to "the triangle with Scott Moir" and Bryce being a poor loser at love. Or it was the face slash. Or she's an introvert. She's special, beyond the criticism leveled at other underachieving figure skaters.
Jessica Dube does not have a confidence problem. She's spoiled. A starfish in a small French-Canadian bowl who wants the perks without the work. She's an archtypical case of reliance on natural talent and hoping things will play differently in performance than in training, shrugging when it does not, offloading responsibility to things beyond her control while everyone tries to cheer her up for how she's disappointed them.
Jessica was a flub-prone junior with promising basics - power and flow across the ice, good with jumps and throws. It was easy to imagine the flubs and mental walkabouts as junior level growing pains.When she ended her first partnership, new partners came to try out with her, and Bryce was the one who relocated, went to school online, learned a new language, joined her training centre. Jessica believes this is how things should always work and even after Bryce surpassed her as a skater and performer while coddling her, she resisted the realities.
Katia Gordeeva was and is an introvert and at 23 she was a married mother with two Olympic gold medals. Jessica Dube at 23 is coddled, humored, excused at every turn, jollied along and brightly encouraged like she's a fucking six-year-old, whether in the KissNCry or on her facebook wall and photo albums.
The reality is Olympics were over and she was out of excuses. If she wanted to continue to contend she'd have to work harder and Jessica Dube is not interested. She trained new features all summer and punked out at the first competition intended to unveil them. Naturally, she had a wrist issue that needed Bryce's attention. Look what happens when you make Jessica do something she doesn't want to do. She'll destroy a beautiful program like Carmen. She'll fall out of a sit spin. Two-foot the first of a double axel sequence and stare while Bryce does the second without even feigning an attempt at the second one herself.
Look what happens when Jessica has to work hard all summer and learn new stuff. Look what happens when Bryce gets injured and Jessica gets to play dilettante for a season. It's an opportunity to opt out and play dilettante for life.
Jessica Dube doesn't like doing something if she can't do it perfectly the first time and calls this being a perfectionist. Tatiana Volosozhar, a million times the pairs skater Jessica is, takes forever to learn a new throw, lift or spin. She perseveres til she gets it. That's real life.
Jessica's complacent self-absorption while explaining her decision to end her partnership with Bryce chilled even her fans. Particularly measured against the praise Bryce has always heaped upon her even when she was the one letting him down. Her remarks lacked empathy, grace, awareness and class. There was minimal acknowledgment of Bryce's experience. Yet Bryce will still absorb criticism from Jessica supporters who think the problem is he poorly managed Jessica's involvement with a famous male ice dancer.
I can't wait for the resumption of the sham now that Jessica has ditched Bryce and talks of his injury as a positive instigator of change in her life. Bryce is left to train alone and continue his recovery with an iffy athletic future while Jessica basks in the disproportionate fan attention and endorsement that comes from being seen as the romantic choice of a popular Canadian Olympic ice dance champion. Hey, if Scott Moir loves her, right? We can't judge - maybe it only looks like Bryce is the good guy and Jessica is the problem.
Bryce is the better skater, better performer, the loyal partner. Bryce provided unending support towards Jessica, and wrongly assumed the majority of responsibility for the face slash. If there's any justice he will find a terrific partner and achieve new heights, but it seldom works that way in figure skating. Skate Canada can be counted on to fund Jessica's singles training despite her age and being sixth at best in Canada; she'll receive assignments she doesn't deserve despite her only landing a two footed triple lutz at Nationals. Because it's Skate Canada which created the monster (in the literary sense) that is Jessica Dube, and persisted even after the writing was on the wall.
Congratulations to Scott Moir. His decision to take part in this ridiculous, fake relationship has resulted in him not only being attached to Jessica via the internet (and as a result of photos - in perpetuity), but having his name thrown out by many fans as one of the main reasons Jessica lost interest in her skating and torpedoed her loyal partner of nine years. Best of luck there, dude.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why Skate Canada let Jessica make off the cuff comments to the media at all. She managed to take an unfortunate injury to Bryce and make it all about herself in the press, and its no wonder even some of her biggest fans had a collective WTF reaction to her comments. She seems incapable of speaking about this situation without coming across as totally self-absorbed, which is obviously par for the course.
ReplyDeleteThe people at Skate Canada should probably hire someone to each them about good PR, because they seem incapable of understanding what it is exactly. The way they manage their skaters in terms of marketing them to fans is a joke.
I still remember my feelings when this interview became public:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=378140341858
I was appalled that Jessica would go on record, in front of Bryce, shoving his face into the ground with her callous proclamation that she was Moir's girlfriend, amidst the impression also given of sordidness and ruined friendships.
Whether fake or not, it was very badly done and it made Bryce look like a lost, unhappy soul, struggling to put his life back together. Jessica and Scott came off looking like assholes, and they have happily continued giving that impression of themselves with all their facebook "cutesy couple" activities. I hope they're all satisfied.
After Bryce's injury, it was publicized that Scott Moir would choreograph Jessica Dube's singles short program. In the eyes of many Dube/Davison fans, this rubbed salt in the wound, kicked Bryce while he was down.
ReplyDeleteJessica Jessica Jessica Jessica. Why is the important one always Jessica, even when it's Bryce's injury? Because of her role in this charade with Scott and how insistent everyone is that fans buy into it. It blinds them to any other consideration, and they look like jerks.
Whether it was Scott, Tessa or someone else who did the actual short program, it doesn't matter.
The USA skaters at Team Canton, especially, never put a foot wrong in public relations. Every statement on facebook, twitter or in the press is not only generous and tactful, but role models how to use fame to promote worthy causes and show appreciation to fans. All of them manage to preserve a zone of privacy around their personal lives without making a freak show of themselves.
It's axiomatic that Canadians supposedly represent homegrown values, are more considerate, accessible, neighborly and polite than their southern neighbors. Yet compared to skaters in the US, Skate Canada skaters are self-absorbed, careless and boorish and Skate Canada never appears to grasp what it means to put "Canadian values" in action.
To be strictly accurate, I think during Canadians Bryce was in-studio with PJ Kwong in Toronto. But yes, still requiring him to travel that week in support of Jessica.
ReplyDeleteIn your opening blog you mention the tabloids. Am I to understand you are going to, or have already, contacted any of them to look into these things you write about? If even just some of them are true, these are loaded allegations. I would expect this to be right up the alley of the kinds of investigations they like to conduct. Maybe we shall indeed be lining our cats' litter boxes with this story one of these days. I, for one, would like to know whether any of this is true.
I haven't sicced the tabloids on them; just still consider it. It would be easy for a U.S. tabloid to verify everything.
ReplyDeleteTeam Virtue Moir would be lucky if nobody in skating embellished what they knew to make them look worse because it would be hard to set the record straight given all their lies. That would be ironic as their reality is normal and natural.
Shamming is common. The public is mostly aware of bearding when someone is gay, but straights use it too, and I understand the reasons why.
But, how this is handled is unique. It's bald faced contemptuous towards the fans.
And let's face it, it's gross.
I finally felt like creating one little public corner to express my opinion.
Scott once told a reporter he would not name his "gf" out of respect. The sanctimony!
We all know that there are limits to what you can shovel at even the entertainment media in the mainstream press, but there are no limits on facebook. Respect has nothing to do with it.
"Scott once told a reporter he would not name his "gf" out of respect. The sanctimony!"
ReplyDeleteThis!!
From the very beginning of when they (or, more specifically, Jessica) trace the start of their "relationship", they have done everything possible to shove it in fans' faces via facebook.
For me, the height of disgust was when Scott not only said the quoted statement you referenced above, but accompanied it with "she also has a partner, she knows what it's like."
Really? What respect? At every opportunity, Jessica mentions her "boyfriend" or "my lover", all the while putting up "couple-photos" on her public wall.
They are not only NOT showing respect, they are hypocrites.
I don't know if Scott is so much a hypocrite as a passive bystander. Yes, he says he doesn't mention the gf out of "respect" while not hiding her on fb. In that sense, there's hypocrisy.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it's Jessica who openly and publicly mentions her "bf, Scott Moir" at every opportunity, even referencing her "lover" on her public wall. She makes sure to post lots of pictures with him, especially right before or after a public event, in case anyone didn't get the message. (As an example, right before the media event announcing the GPF in Quebec City, she changed her profile picture to one of her and Scott at the beach. It wasn't good enough to keep the one that was already up of the two of them together, it seems to have been important to make a statement of intimacy, even to be suggestive.) She's never pretended to show respect, either to her skating nor to Scott's. She loves mentioning her bf Scott, posting pictures of him, parading the relationship.
The feeling of disrespect stems in great measure from Scott making those coy statements, but then sitting back and watching the gf put on this spectacle, giving his tacit agreement. The whole business comes across as icky and immature (it's hard to imagine a real-life, mature, serious couple behaving this way for the pleasure of literally thousands of strangers). It also comes across as incredibly disrespectful, not only toward their own skating partners but to the public, who really just loves the skaters and wishes them well. They don't deserve to be subjected to these circus shows.
I understand completely. And, it's disrespectful and hurtful to fans of Bryce and Tessa, though Tessa and Bryce are or in Bryce's case was an unseen contributor. It's mean to fans of Scott and fans of Jessica who don't understand why they're such assholes on facebook to their partners and fans.
ReplyDeleteBryce's fans feel continually disrespected, Tessa's fans who know what's up are pissed Tessa is left open as a target for sordid rumors.
But Jessica is not acting independently. It's systematically coordinated and planned out beforehand. The timing of putting up profile photos of Jessica with Scott, how long they stay up, even what photo is used isn't left to Jessica; it's a team effort, synchronized with public events, as you've observed.
As Scott poses for these photos and his “side” confers/schedules with Jessica when they'll be seen on her wall/used as a profile picture, he is a hypocrite. When Jessica is tasteless on facebook, others have a responsibility to check her poor judgment. Such as when she commented on a fan's album, under a photo of Scott and Tessa practicing for SOI "He's my boyfriend and he's the best!" She came off like a bunny boiler, but she had been tasked with bringing this charade to the forefront again very quickly, as May 2010 training break was imminent.
Inappropriate and slimy feeling photos such as we got from the Dominican are everyone's responsibility. The photos had a job to do. They were warehoused the entire 2009 summer while connections like Cara Moir used Jessica’s wall to talk them up. The album wasn't public until the season began, just after Mahler was unveiled and the start of High Performance Camp. Later, the smarmiest photos were featured in Jessica's "My Year 2009" fb collage over Xmas break, coinciding with Alma's "Moir Rock Band Xmas 09!" fb wall album featuring Jessica and Scott.
Jessica makes many fans so uncomfortable it contaminates Scott too and people wonder what the hell is wrong with him when they view these creepy photos. In them Jessica strikes many fans as a self-satisfied narcissist and Scott comes off as her trophy/stooge.
By throwing Bryce overboard, Jessica's cemented the impression of many facebook fans that she's all about Jessica.
Yet, just over two months ago Scott posed for some 120 or so low rent looking photos enacting "Xmas 2010" and "NYE 2010" for a short-lived public photo spam on Jessica's wall.
It may not take place on his own facebook but he's no passive bystander.
"...while Jessica basks in the disproportionate fan attention and endorsement that comes from being seen as the romantic choice of a popular Canadian Olympic ice dance champion. Hey, if Scott Moir loves her, right?..."
ReplyDelete^^ This caught my attention.
Whatever is really up with this relationship, Jessica has unquestionably benefited from being seen as Scott's "romantic choice." Without Scott, she's just another former pairs' skater who never reached her potential. She has been basking in the reflected glory of Scott Moir's achievements and popularity for a good while now, instead of on her own standing as a skater.
I don't think there will be any "dumping" of Mr. Moir, like she did with her skating partner, Bryce. There's too much to lose.
Opinion only, but I agree with you - it's doubtful Jessica would move to end this on her own for exactly the points you bring up.
ReplyDeleteBut, what is not just opinion is she's not the show runner, and she'd have no choice if other parties decided it was time to pull the plug.