Broadcasting career of Johnny Weir

Johnny Weir began his broadcasting career In October 2013, after he retired from figure skating competition and joined NBC as a figure skating analyst at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.[1] NBC teamed Weir up with sports commentator Terry Gannon and fellow figure skater, Olympic gold medalist, and good friend Tara Lipinski, as the network's second team of figure skating commentators for their daily live broadcasts.[2][3][4] Weir worked with Gannon during the men's events, and Lipinski worked with Gannon during the women's events.[3] After realizing they worked well together and after recognizing their "instant chemistry",[4] they pitched the idea of the three working together to NBC; Lipinski stated that it "was sort of meant to be".[5] According to sports writer Tom Weir, Weir, Lipinski, and Gannon "had instant comedic harmony, with their casual chatter and humorous asides playing amazingly well against the staunch and exacting backdrop of figure skating".[4] Tom Weir also reported that the trio had generated the 10 best weekday daytime audiences in NBC's history.[4]

Weir's good friend and fellow commentator Tara Lipinski, 2014

In Sochi, Weir chose not to support calls for boycotting the Olympics in protest of Russia's anti-gay laws, and was criticized by both anti-gay and LGBTQ activists for his position.[6] He appeared in the 2014 EPIX documentary To Russia with Love, which was about gay athletes in Russia and the U.S. The film, produced by Robert Redford and Sundance Productions, was filmed secretly during the Sochi Olympics and was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award.[7][8] Weir later told USA Today that his period commentating in Sochi was a "horrible time" of his life; he was going through "a really nasty divorce"[3] from his husband Victor Voronov, with Voronov submitting a defamation suit against Weir and much of their disputes being reported in the New York tabloids and TMZ. Weir depended on Lipinski for support in Sochi, which helped them bond.[9] He said that she "helped push me through work. Somehow, at the same time my life was falling apart, we were crushing it at work, and we were winning hearts across America".[3]

Weir, Lipinski, and Gannon were promoted to NBC's primary figure skating commentators, replacing Scott Hamilton, Sandra Bezic, and Tom Hammond.[2][10] Weir, along with Lipinski and Gannon, was an analyst at the 2018 Winter Olympics.[11] Lipinski, Weir, and Gannon hosted the closing ceremonies in Pyeongchang, as well as for the 2020 Summer Olympics and for the 2022 Winter Olympics.[12][13] They covered the 2022 Winter Olympics, this time remotely from the NBC studies in Stamford, Connecticut, where they had covered events for many years, due to the rise of COVID-19 cases internationally and China's strict COVID-19 protocols, which NBC stated made it "too challenging" to send broadcast teams to Beijing in person.[14]

Both Weir and Lipinski told GQ that they would bring dozens of suitcases to the competitions they announced, and would do their best to wear matching clothes and never the same outfit twice. By the 2018 Olympics, they brought every item of clothing they owned and would "sort it out" at the event. They also reported that they assisted Gannon with his on-air fashion choices.[3]

Weir and Lipinski were hired by NBC's Access Hollywood in 2014, to analyze fashion during the red carpet at the Oscars.[15] He served as a correspondent, with Lipinski, at the Beverly Hills Dog Show in 2017[16] and at the National Dog Show in 2015–2019.[17][18][19][20][21] (In 2016, Weir owned a Japanese Chin named Tema.)[18] Weir and Lipinski worked the Kentucky Derby in 2014–2018 (as "fashion and lifestyle experts"[22] in 2016 and focusing on "lifestyle and celebrity content"[23] in 2018). and were event reporters for the Super Bowl pre-game show in 2015 and 2017.[24][25] They were named "culture correspondents"[26] for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[22] Weir, a self-professed fan of the Eurovision Song Contest, which he said had inspired him as a figure skater and that he had used its music in his programs, hosted and commentated the 2022 Eurovision semi-finals and finals for the streaming service Peacock in the U.S.[27] He is set to do the same for the 2023 contest.[28]

In 2018, the Washington Post reported that viewers' responses to Lipinski and Weir were mixed; some considered them "Olympic darlings–a one-stop shop for knowledge, sass and brass", while others found them "mean, obnoxious, and distracting".[12] Scott Hamilton, who was replaced at NBC by Weir, Lipinski, and Gannon, called them a "phenomenon" and "such a breath of fresh air".[10] GQ called their commentating style "a Gladwell-ian ability to demystify figure skating for the uninitiated and an extreme candor for which they've caught some heat".[3] They tried to present figure skating in an accessible way to their viewers, keeping the more technical aspects of the sport to a minimum but emphasizing its "gossipy nuances".[4] When they were criticized at the 2018 Olympics for being overly harsh, Weir responded, "I'm a commentator, not a ‘complimentator'", and added, "I would never be able to do my job without telling the truth about every aspect of figure skating and the performances you'll see".[29]

Both Weir and Lipinski had "the good sense to stay silent when a skater is on an elegant and error-free roll" and Weir had "a gift for creating strong mental images with concise statements" while calling figure skating competitions.[4] Weir cited Olympic champion and long-time analyst Dick Button as an influence in his own broadcasting style, especially Button's brutal honesty. Button told Olympic reporters, when asked what he thought about Weir's commentating style, that he thought that Weir was "very bright" and did not "overstep his bounds".[4] Sports writer Bill Goodykoontz calls Weir and Lipinkski's enthusiasm for figure skating their "calling card".[30] Although Goodykoontz states that Lipinski and Weir "never stop talking",[31] they were uncharacteristically quiet while calling the short program of Kamila Valieva from the Russian Olympic Committee, who was allowed to compete despite failing a drug test prior to the 2022 Olympics. They chose to simply announce Valieva's jumps and to express their opinions that she should not have been allowed to compete afterwards.[31] Weir later said it was "the hardest event I’ve ever had to cover".[31]

In 2018 and 2019, Weir and Lipinski hosted and appeared in a few shows on Food Network, including two seasons of Wedding Cake Challenge. In 2019, he and his brother Brian "Boz" Weir competed for charity on the Fox network reality show MasterChef.[32][33] Also in 2019, Weir competed in the second season of The Masked Singer as "Egg", before being eliminated in the first week.[34] In 2022, he began his role as the U.S. commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest, which is broadcast on Peacock in the U.S.[35] In 2023, Weir and Lipinski appeared on the reboot version of Night Court, playing scripted versions of themselves and their friendship.[36][37]