Two Brooklyn roommates had a wacky dream to turn a hallway in their Williamsburg apartment into a museum devoted to the bizarre Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan 1994 figure skating scandal.
Thanks to Kickstarter, that dream is becoming a reality.
Comedians Matt Harkins and Viviana Olen said the idea to install a museum in their apartment — inspired by a recent viewing of the Tonya Harding documentary on Netflix — started out as a joke with an initial Kickstarter goal of $75.
"They realized their hallway would be the perfect place to house a museum dedicated to the 1994 American incident and the response," the Kickstarter page declared. "They were honestly pretty shocked there wasn't one already."
But much like a baton-whack to the knee, Kerrigan-Harding scandal 'shippers found word of this burgeoning project impossible to ignore.
The public support came pouring in — their Kickstarter page boasts over $1600 in donations (supporters can buy into different tiers of packages like the "Kristi Yamaguchi" or "the Lillehammer," where they can actually get married in the museum) — and Harkins and Olen realized their vision to document the feud between the two American ice skaters doesn't just fill an obsessive want, but a figure skating need.
On thin ice: Kerrigan and Harding at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics.
The duo's initial idea to fill the space with fan art ("people's crafting projects, wax figures, historical reenactments and other Tonya and Nancy-related creations which can be deemed part of the cultural response to this event") has been supplemented with donations of actual memorabilia, "including pins and backstage passes to early '90s skating competitions" where Kerrigan and Harding competed, according to ABC News.
So lucky Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan 1994 Museumgoers will get the chance to re-live this odd saga and pick sides all over again.
"I'm more of a Tonya and Matt is more of a Nancy," Olen told ABC News.
The museum is slated to open next month by appointment only, so as to not interfere with Harkins and Olen's full-time jobs.
H/t the Cut.
