Just as The U.S. has an ice skating show “Dancing with the Stars” and the UK has “Dancing on Ice”, in Russia they have a celebrity ice-skating show named “Ice Age”. They may be able to compete with each other in terms of skating skills and grace of movement but when it comes to coarse insensitivity the Russians win hands down.
The ice dance we’re talking about was Holocaust-themed and it involved the wife of a high-level aide to President Vladimir Putin. In the routine, former Olympic ice skater Tatiana Navka and her dance partner Andrei Burkovsky dance in the striped pajamas and yellow six-pointed stars which was the uniform Nazis forced the Jewish people to wear in concentration camps.
The backlash against the utter tastelessness of this show was fast and furious. , Jeremy Jones, Director of International Affairs at Australia's Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, had this to say about the ice dance routine: “The lack of thought that would have to go into making that decision is almost mindblowing … Long after they're forgotten as ice skaters they'll be remembered as people who sunk to such depths to get some celebrity,” he said.
We hope that the celebrity skaters and the show organizers grow some brains and perhaps a heart too!