Jessica Alba has removed Halloween photos showing her dressed as figure-skating star Nancy Kerrigan after the costume drew criticism online.
The 45-year-old actress posed alongside her friend Kelly Sawyer, who portrayed Tonya Harding, recreating the notorious 1994 attack that shocked the sports world.
Although Alba deleted the pictures from Instagram, they appeared to remain on Threads, Instagram’s sister platform, as of Monday morning.
The accompanying caption read: “Happy Halloween from Tonya @kellysawyer (Tonya’s mom LaVona) and Nancy (ice skate, snowflake emojis) Plus vampire Hayes (vampire, jack-o-lantern, and shooting star emojis).”
Alba recreated one of Kerrigan’s best-known looks in a lacy white dress, tights and ice skates. The most controversial detail was a white bandage over her left knee, complete with fake blood.
Sawyer, 51, wore a glittering maroon dress and carried a baseball bat as part of the portrayal of the attack.
Jessica Alba removed her Halloween photos after her bloodied Nancy Kerrigan costume prompted backlash
The actress posed with Kelly Sawyer, who dressed as Tonya Harding, in a recreation of the infamous 1994 incident
Harding, left, and Kerrigan, right, train ahead of the 1994 Winter Olympics
Sawyer is a Canadian-American businesswoman and philanthropist best known for founding Baby2Baby, a national nonprofit that supplies essential items to children living in poverty.
Alba’s caption also referenced Harding’s mother, LaVona Fay Golden, who was portrayed by Allison Janney in the 2017 dark comedy biopic I, Tonya. Janney won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role.
Harding was never criminally convicted of taking part in the attack, but she was permanently barred from the US Figure Skating Association.
The costume’s baseball bat also differed from the real weapon. The attacker hired by Harding’s former husband, Shane Stant, used a police baton.
The assault took place on January 6, 1994, at the US Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, Michigan. Kerrigan, the reigning national champion, was struck in the lower leg with a telescopic baton.
Footage filmed after the attack showed Kerrigan crying on the floor and repeatedly shouting, “Why? Why? Why?” The scene became one of the decade’s most recognizable sports images.
In recent years, Harding said she first learned of a possible plan to attack Kerrigan about two months before the 1994 US National Championships.
She said she began to suspect that a plot was developing after overhearing a conversation between her then-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and his friend Shawn Eckardt.
Alba recreated one of Kerrigan’s signature looks in a white dress, tights and skates, adding a bloodied bandage over her left knee
The photos disappeared from Instagram but appeared to remain on Threads as of Monday morning
The post was captioned: “Happy Halloween from Tonya @kellysawyer (Tonya’s mom LaVona) and Nancy (ice skate, snowflake emojis) Plus vampire Hayes (vampire, jack-o-lantern, and shooting star emojis)”
Alba also referenced Harding’s mother, LaVona Fay Golden, played by Allison Janney in I, Tonya (above, mother and daughter in Portland in January 1994)
Harding has consistently maintained that she neither organized the attack nor instructed Gillooly to hire Stant to carry it out.
She eventually reached a plea agreement and admitted guilt to one count of conspiring to hinder prosecution.
The agreement resulted in a $160,000 fine, three years of probation and 500 hours of community service.
Harding was also stripped of her 1994 US Championship title and permanently banned from the US Figure Skating Association.
Gillooly served two years in prison, while Eckardt received an 18-month sentence for their roles in planning the assault and hiring the attacker.
Kerrigan’s injury forced her to withdraw from the US Championships, which Harding went on to win.
Kerrigan recovered in time to compete at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, where she won a silver medal in one of figure skating’s most memorable comeback stories.
More than three decades later, Kerrigan and Harding have never publicly repaired their relationship.
