Why Are We Still Obsessed with the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan Scandal of 1994?

By Madeleine Davies  |  March 29, 2017 | 5:10pm
CelebritiesEntertainment

It was the “WHY WHY WHY” heard ‘round the world. Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed above the knee by a stranger after leaving the ice rink just prior to the U.S. Figure Skating Championship of 1994. Soon thereafter, her competitor Tonya Harding was implicated in the crime. Twenty-three years later, thanks to an unfortunate tweet by fellow skater Kristi Yamaguchi, we’re still talking about it.


On this week’s DirtCast, Bobby and I sit down with Viviana Olen and Matt Harkins, the extremely affable founders of Brooklyn’s THNK1994 Museum (the THNK stands for Tonya Harding Nancy Kerrigan). In addition to a permanent collection devoted to Nancy and Tonya, THNK1994 has also put on the iconic “Olsen Twins Hiding from the Paparazzi” exhibit and will soon debut “Yama Kippi Yay Bo,” an exhibit based entirely around the best YouTube video of all time:

Experts on all things Tonya and Nancy, Matt and Viviana enlighten us on the struggles of running a museum out of your apartment, the boss bitchiness of Nancy wearing the same dress that she got clubbed in for her first post-injury face-off with Tonya at the ’94 Lillehammer Olympics, and why Tonya is a pure example of an American success story.

Also in the episode, Bobby and I discuss Donald Trump’s weird interactions with Emma Thompson and One Direction, Wolverine’s penis, and my unsettling hobby of going to dog rescue events with no intention of adopting a dog. Here, by the way, is Marshall, the cutest puppy I’ve ever met:


If you want to know more about Marshall, you can do so here. Click here to follow the THNK1994 Museum on Twitter. DirtCast can be found on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, and iHeart Media.

Our show is produced by Levi Sharpe with editorial oversight by Kate Dries. Mandana Mofidi is our Executive Director of Audio. Our theme music is by Stuart Wood. This episode was mixed by Brad Fisher. Listen to our politics podcast, Big Time Dicks, here.

 
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