Holocaust-themed performance has Olympic champ on thin ice
An Olympic champion ice dancer is learning the hard way that it's probably a good idea to run a potentially controversial idea by a few friends before following through on it.
In this case, the skater (Tatiana Navka, the 2006 Olympic gold medalist in ice dancing) is facing harsh blowback after she participated in a Holocaust-themed figure skating routine for a reality television show.
Navka, who also happens to be the wife of the spokesman for Russian president Vladimir Putin, performed the routine alongside actor Andrei Burkovsky on the Russian show Ice Age (basically Dancing with the Stars on ice).
You May Also Like
Dressed in concentration camp uniforms, complete with Stars of David, the pair were actually attempting to perform a routine that was an homage to the 1997 Academy Award-winning holocaust movie Life is Beautiful (remember Roberto Benigni's acceptance speech?).
The song they used in the routine, “Beautiful That Way,” by Israeli singer Achinoam “Noa” Nini, was part of Life is Beautiful's soundtrack.
Still, the whole thing was a bizarre exercise, including an invisible child and too many smiles for an eight-minute figure skating performance meant to replicate a film drama about the Holocaust.
And that's not including the gun-shot finale.
Outrage across the internet was, of course, swift.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Navka posted stills from the performance on her Instagram in a move to defend the action, saying (per Google Translate), "Based on one of my favorite movies, "Life is beautiful!" Show this movie to your children," and "Our children need to know and remember that terrible time, which I hope, God willing, they will never know."
That, however, only resulted in more backlash from commenters.
In case you were wondering what those watching live in the arena felt watching it, the pair received a perfect score.
Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
