Ilia Malinin Accused of Cheating Scandal as the Other Party Describes Their ‘Bond’ as ‘Broken’
StyleCaster Editors
There’s some drama going on in the figure skating community. Ilia Malinin was at the center of a cheating scandal where fans accused another figure skater, Gracie Gold, of cheating on her boyfriend, Nam Nguyen.
A viral video of Ilia Malinin dancing in the club with another woman gained traction at the Olympics. While some people speculated it was Amber Glenn (who denied she was the girl since she was in mid-competition), other people thought it was retired figure skater and bronze Olmypic medalist Gracie Gold. Figure skating fans claimed that Nam Nguyen had allegedly pushed further the narrative online that Ilia was involved with his girlfriend.
These fans captured screenshots of Nguyen’s alleged burner account who replied to fan accounts about Gold’s involvment. In one instance, the account replied to the viral video, “That’s Gracie Gold. She cheated on her boyfriend for that.”
Gracie Gold confirmed she was dating fellow retired figure skater Nam Nguyen on Valentine’s Day in 2025. So, what was up with the whole situation?
On Feb. 26, 2026, an X account that claimed to be Nam Nguyen apologized for writing comments about Gracie Gold and Ilia Malinin. “Hi everyone, it’s Nam,” the account wrote in a Notes App screenshot. “I know the last few days have been chaotic. I take full responsibility for everything you’ve seen on X the last few days (my comments and immature reposts), and that video was unfortunate to our relationship. What Gracie and I have between us is private and I broke that bond by not being my best self. I apologize to everyone, mistakes were made and lessons are learned. If there’s anything to take from this, I ask that you guys please lay off of Gracie. She’s been through enough, and any personal attacks against her are unacceptable. Sorry to all that I that I have disappointed.”
Neither Ilia Malinin nor Gracie Gold has responded to the situation.
In an interview with People right before the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, he implied that he’s not looking for a relationship, “I want to put my priorities into my career first and just see where that takes me.”
In 2023, Ilia Malinin was under fire for answering a question about his sexuality. In an Instagram Live, a fan asked, “Are you straight?” Malanin replied, “Bro, you know, let’s be honest, I can’t be straight anymore because I need those (artistic) component scores up, you know. I gotta say that I’m not straight, that way my components are gonna go up.”
He later apologized for the comments on Twitter (now known as X): “I want to truly apologize to everyone for my ‘teenage’ behavior and I am aware that this mistake can’t really be undone. … I hope that everyone understands I mean no hate to anyone. Thank you all for understanding this mistake and making it known to me that I made a mistake.”
