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We promised to not talk about how much he spent, but let's just say that Ben Franklin was well represented, many times over.


Couldn't help :rollin at that one. It's good to see the Boston media generally likes Johnny.

I love to shop. So it's amusing to me that Johnny shares one of my hobbies, although on a far grander scale than I'm able to afford.

My own spending habits have changed along with my income/ life situation. For the longest time, I had to be very frugal because I was a student, then I was repaying student loans, then I had rent/ car payments to make. But I always indulged myself, usually with clothes. I'm a clothes horse. Now that I'm making a bit more money and my major debts are paid off (praise all that is good and holy!), I can indulge myself a lot more. It's nothing for me to drop $200, $300 in one pop. Does that make me self-indulgent or wasteful or irresponsible? Should I be giving that money to starving orphans or lost puppies? IMO, there's no "should" involved. It's my money, and I can do what I want with it.

I would assume that Johnny's "discretionary cash" fund is probably a lot more generous than that of most of the people on this list. Therefore, his indulgences are proportionately going to be bigger.

Would I think any more of him if he was out there donating money to/ raising awareness of good causes? Probably. Do I think any less of him because he's not? Not really. It's his money, he's earned it through his talent and hard work, and IMO he's free to spend it however he wants. He's a 21-year-old with a high income, good looks, a nice body, and good taste. IMO he's doing what pretty much any kid in similar circumstances would do: spending the money on things he enjoys. As has been noted, he's also putting his brother through college, and IMO that says a lot about his sense of responsibility to his family.

Funny, would we even be having this conversation if it was say, Evan or Stephane or Plushy out there buying a six-or-seven-figure sports car? Would anyone in the media even care?

All that said, it's just one of those stupid things: the media has slotted Johnny into the "colorful guy, likes to shop" slot of figure skating. It's less to do with Johnny than with how the media has chosen to portray him.

--EA Week