Shaun White Blowback In Full Effect

by The Editors on January 20, 2011

Last night CNN broadcast a little profile on Shaun White. It was part of their Revealed program and the videos have gotten Shaun nothing but grief from the independent snowboard media.

Snowbroader.eu said the profile was:

…full of ridiculous claims, everyone just saying how awesome he is, including himself, all the footage was provided by sponsors and advertisers, and we could go on and on. So if you don’t know what to do right now, check how CNN revealed Shaun White.

Yobeat in a post titled: CNN Has Nothing Better to Cover Than Shaun White by Shaun Blanco said:

In fact, this whole program reminded me of a Transworld article. All the footage was provided by sponsors and advertisers, The “editorial” is provided by someone nobody even knows, all claims are ridiculous, all the riders input is strictly worthless sound bites we’ve heard a million times before, and they call it important.

We haven’t watched it yet, but we’re going to just as soon as we link all this video up. . . follow the jump for the rest.

Shaun White on The Air & Style

Shaun White’s Chinese Mission

{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }

TOAD January 20, 2011 at 12:45 pm

Blue Steal is good but my new look…well the world is not ready for that yet. Shaun you were so much cooler as a grom. Get over yourself

Da Bruce January 20, 2011 at 3:47 pm

The endemic’s can talk all the shit they want. At the end of the day what is core? How do I know that Snowbroader.eu is not a bunch of kooks sitting around computers all day talking shit about Shawn? I mean they weren’t out riding snowboards when they wrote the article (if they were snowboarding then Fuck Yea!)

The world that is watching CNN is generally not visiting yobeat.com. Sure Shawn says a some silly things… but no one reading this post can say they invented double corks or took halfpipe riding to completely new levels. Unfortunate for Shawn CNN’s editing probably made him seem a little more arrogant than he was trying to be.

I thought to the non snowboarder it told an accurate story of the crazy life of Shawn White. Obviously this was no cinema seoane piece… But what snowboarders like and what the general public like are two different things. Do you think that grandpa in Nebraska wants to watch cab 270 nose press down 20 sets? probably not…

Shawn is really the first world wide superstar snowboarder and he is living up to that reputation. Hes a fucking rock star hands down. Sure Terje has done more for the sport than one, But has he bought the same kind of international exposure that Shawn has, No Way!

People talk all this shit about Shawn and his ridiculous getup’s and crazy remarks but really have you been to a resort lately? Compared to the unbelievable outfits that kids are running and the absolute trash that comes out of kids mouths these days, Shawn should be a role model for our snowboarding youth.

A day at mountain High will make you loose all faith in our youth. I wanna smack the mouths off half these kids faces with there ridiculous attitudes and bullshit gangster vibes! Snowboarding is supposed to be fun and rewarding and Shawn says exactly that in this piece, and that’s why I have rode for 23 years and will continue until I physically cant! Its just that fun and rewarding!

When you have kids like Magoon and the Dingo running around promoting our sport does that really help us? As fun and cool as those guys are, are they really the people we want representing us in a sport we have fought so hard to legitimize? Theres a reason why Alta is still closed to snowboarders…

Theres a little joke I always tell to skiers… How does a snowboarder introduce him self… “Sorry Dude” (its Funny!) But I always back it up with. Whats the worst part about being a skier? “having to tell your parents your gay!” The truth is that if you ride a board, surf, skate, snow and I might even through wake in there, your probably pretty fricken rad.

Lets keep snowboarding fun and awesome, Shawn’s not the problem, the haters are!

Its Me January 20, 2011 at 3:59 pm

The Shaun White hate is getting old. Get fucking over it already. He is big business and he’s earned it. Why don’t someone knock him off his throne and give him a reason to be humble? And no beating him in a competition once every couple of years isn’t going to do it.

Bill Byrne January 20, 2011 at 5:23 pm

Da Bruce said it pretty well. This showed some older footage many people outside of snowboarding may never have seen and tells a story you don’t have to be a snowboarder to understand.

The branded footage is a given. Don’t be naive, it’s not feasible for CNN to collect their own b-roll on this scale. It’s not feasible to build a private pipe to train on without sponsors.

Love or hate, Shaun has helped snowboarding grow. There are people pushing it to new heights in other areas (street terrain or whatever you want to call it these days), but CNN is mainstream and they’re looking for a mainstream news story that will appeal to their viewers. Mainstream gets height. They get multiple wins.

And if this piece makes it easier for some 12 year old kid to convince his parents to let him ride, all the better.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I give props to Shaun on what he’s done.

Core Score January 21, 2011 at 9:00 am

if you’re making sacrifices in your life to ride more than you probably should be able to, you’re core.
anything else is just style, age or riding habits. might not be the demographic companies want to hit, but core shouldn’t be based on a target market.
anyone else?

markfitzy January 21, 2011 at 8:42 pm

hate on haters…

NigHeist January 23, 2011 at 4:06 am

You guys are overlooking the obvious…

People don’t hate Shaun White because he’s Shaun White. They hate him because he’s a douche.

JS January 25, 2011 at 9:42 am

@ NigHeist – I have known Shaun for over 7 years. He is a stand-up guy and a true champion. Like everyone, even you, I’m sure he has said or done something to rub someone the wrong way, but his heart is in the right place. I can’t tell you how many times he has been there for me and many others.

He is the best at what he does and has proven it time and again. Like hating on the Yankees, you may not like him because he wins a lot, but bottom line is this; Shaun White is an awesome person and proven winner. You my friend are neither.

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