After an Olympic skater Gabriella PapadakisThe controversial memoir came out earlier this week, NBC is making a change in their broadcast team.
The French ice dancer released her book, To Not Disappearon Thursday, January 17. Shortly thereafter, NBC removed Papadakis from their coverage of the Winter Olympics due to what the network is calling a “conflict of interest.”
“We respect Gabriella’s right to tell the story of her life and career. At the same time, her new book creates a clear conflict of interest,” NBC told Sporty in a statement. “Our responsibility is to deliver coverage that our audience can trust to be free of bias—whether real or perceived—and we regret that is no longer possible due to the circumstances.”
In the book, Papadakis, 30, describes her former partner, Guillaume Cizeronas “controlling, demanding” and “critical” during their time as partners.
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She added that she eventually refused to skate with him without a coach present and often felt she was “under his control.”
Papadakis said Agence France-Presse earlier this week that NBC called it “a few days ago because after the cease and desist from my ex-partner, they changed their minds, and that makes me very sad.”
She worked for NBC as recently as last week, providing analysis of ice dancing at the US Figure Skating Championships.
Cizeron responded to Papadakis’ allegations through a statement to French media on Thursday, calling the memoir a “smear campaign.”
Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron Photo by Pascal GUYOT / AFP via Getty Images
“In the face of this smear campaign, I want to express my incomprehension and disagreement with the labels attributed to me,” he said. “The book contains false information, including statements I never made, which I consider serious. For more than 20 years, I have shown deep respect for Gabriella Papadakis, despite the gradual erosion of our bond, our relationship was built on equal collaboration and characterized by mutual success and support.”
Cizeron, 31, added that he had instructed his lawyers to “put all parties involved on notice to immediately cease the dissemination of defamatory statements about me.”
Papadakis and Cizeron were childhood skating partners until their split in 2024. They won the Olympic gold medal in 2022 and won silver in 2018 while skating for Team France. They have also won five World Championship gold medals together between 2015 and 2022.
Cizeron is preparing to skate in the 2026 Winter Games with his new partner, Laurence Fournier Beaudryin the midst of this new controversy.
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The ice dance will begin on Friday, February 6, the same day as the opening ceremony in Milan, Italy.
Papadakis has since retired from the competition.
Her memoir also dives into her early life, where she claims she faced instances of sexual abuse. She also takes aim at the culture surrounding ice dancing, explaining that since it is designed for the man to lead and the woman to follow, men have the power in the sport.
“I am not suffering because I was sexually abused when I was younger, but because I continue, day after day, to find myself in situations where my body does not belong to me,” she writes. “I am there without really being there, I half live in this body that mechanically carries out the actions it is ordered to do.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).