‘Amazing’: Olympian Celebrates Bringing ‘Minions’ To Ice Following Music Dispute | EUROtoday

MILAN (AP) — The Minions made it.

After a music rights dispute that took over the Winter Olympics, Spanish determine skater Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate donned his yellow-and-blue costume and introduced the mischievous spirit of the Minions to Milan within the males’s brief program Tuesday.

“It felt amazing” regardless of nerves and an early mistake, he mentioned, after a particular skate to a soundtrack that begins with peals of laughter from the lovable kids’s characters, who had been launched because the henchmen of prison mastermind Gru in “Despicable Me.”

Sabate mentioned the Minions are a option to categorical himself “even though I’m a little bit shy at the beginning,” and the dispute has proven simply how a lot help he actually has.

Sabate had been performing the fan-favorite program all season, pondering he already had the correct approval. It all modified out of the blue final week when he revealed he’d been advised he couldn’t use the music.

“When I did my post I was certain I wouldn’t do the Minions,” he mentioned after skating Tuesday. “That’s why I did the post, as a way of warning the people, whoever expects the Minions at the Olympics, ‘I’m sorry but don’t, unfortunately it’s not gonna happen.’ I can’t expose myself to getting sued.”

He was surprised by the outpouring of help on social media as he tried to steer the likes of Universal Studios and musician and producer Pharrell Williams to grant him the rights to skate to a medley of music associated to the Minions, who’ve since appeared in a number of “Despicable Me” sequels and their very own spinoffs. The remaining approval got here by means of Friday.

“I didn’t realize the reach my skating had even outside of the figure skating world, and it helped me realize how far I’ve come, how far my skating has brought me,” he mentioned.

Just how far will solely sink in after the Olympics.

“I haven’t had really the time to take everything in and just appreciate everything,” he mentioned.

He’s removed from the one skater caught up in music-related drama on the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Petr Gumennik of Russia, competing as a impartial athlete, needed to change the music for his brief program forward of Tuesday’s brief program over a last-minute rights challenge. He dropped music from “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer,” a psychological thriller, changing it with a observe from a Russian romantic epic. Even U.S. champion Amber Glenn had a copyright tangle with a Canadian artist.

What’s subsequent for Sabate? He’s been answering loads of fan messages. More are doubtless on the way in which.

“I want to be the kind of person that replies to their fans,” he mentioned. “They take the time to write to you and I want to take the time to answer.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics