Jessica Alba has taken Halloween photos in which she played ice skater Nancy Kerrigan, complete with bandages around the injured knee and splashed with fake blood, following accusations that she is mocking the 1994 incident that seriously hurt the woman just weeks before the Winter Olympics.
The 45-year-old posted the pictures on Instagram on Sunday under the caption “Happy Halloween from Tonya… and Nancy”. Standing beside her was her friend Kelly Sawyer, dressed as Kerrigan’s former rival Tonya Harding and carrying a baseball bat on one shoulder.
By Monday, the picture was no longer available on Alba’s Instagram page, though the images were still circulating elsewhere online.
The actress wore this costume at a celebrity Halloween party in Los Angeles on Saturday, hosted by Vas J Morgan and Michael Braun. As USA Today explained, citing a Cosmopolitan article, the event had a “Hockey Horror” theme featuring stories about “Heated Rivalry” and “Off Campus” romantic stories about ice hockey players.
Her outfit included a white lace skating dress resembling Kerrigan’s, white ice skates, and bloody bandages around her knee. Images of the party, shared by the celebrity gossip website Deuxmoi, show Alba standing on the ice.
The idea was criticized in the comments. “Why would you want to revisit this traumatic moment that ended people’s careers?” one of them wrote, as reported by Us Weekly. Someone else stated that it was immature.
Fans defended the actresses, praising their creativity and reminding them that their story was made into films and documentaries for decades. An account on X stated that “human suffering has always been fair game, and not just at Halloween,” Us Weekly writes.
Alba did not comment on the controversy. Us Weekly and USA Today approached her representatives, but neither Kerrigan, 57, nor Harding, 55, commented on the costume, HollywoodLife notes.
Their costumes recall one of the most notorious scandals in American sports history. On January 6, 1994, Kerrigan was hit in her right knee by a collapsible metal baton while leaving the rink in Detroit, a day before the national championship of the United States of America Figure Skating Championships. She abandoned competition, and Harding won the national title.
The investigation revealed that Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her bodyguard, Shawn Eckardt, commissioned the act. Gillooly pleaded guilty to racketeering, served two years in prison, and was also sentenced to pay a $100,000 fine.
Kerrigan recovered from her injuries in time and took part in the Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, where she won the silver medal, behind Oksana Baiul of Ukraine. Harding, who wanted to avoid being dismissed from the team, took eighth place after a lace issue disrupted her free skate.
In March 1994, Harding pleaded guilty to conspiring to hamper prosecution of the case and was sentenced to three years of probation, fined $100,000, and forced to perform 500 hours of community service. In June of the same year, the U.S. Figure Skating Association disqualified her from the title and banned her from competitions forever.
Despite all these consequences, Harding was never convicted for participating in the beating, and claimed she did not plan it. However, later she acknowledged hearing about her ex-husband’s plan, Us Weekly reports.
The saga has continued to appear in mass media since then. As a result, the 2017 movie “I, Tonya,” with Margot Robbie portraying Harding, received three Oscar nominations, and Allison Janney won Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Harding’s mother, LaVona Golden.
Now Harding, whose career in competitions of the U.S. Figure Skating Association is officially banned, is expected to play in the ice show named “Tonya and Friends” on December 12 at the Mountain View Ice Arena in Vancouver, Washington, US Weekly states. Interviewed for KOIN of Portland’s website, Harding admitted she cannot leave the sport.
Alba is not the only celebrity who published Halloween images. Martha Stewart removed a photo of herself dressed as a homeless woman and apologized on Instagram.
