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MyKayla Skinner Begs Simone Biles' Help to End Cyberbullying From Fans After Receiving Death Threats, ‘Stop For the Sake of My Family’
MyKayla Skinner has addressed Simone Biles' Instagram post apparently targeted towards her and begs for Biles' fans to stop spreading hate.
US gymnast MyKayla Skinner has called on Paris 2024 Olympic Games champ Simone Biles to put an end to ‘cyberbullying’ following their heated sports beef.
In a video shared on Instagram (@mykaylaskinner20216), the 2020 silver medalist urged the US gymnastics team to stop the cyberbullying, saying that her friends, family, and agents were targeted after the feud began.
"Hey everyone, I sincerely hope that this topic wouldn’t need to be revisited, but unfortunately, things have really gotten out of hand lately," Skinner began.
"It’s one thing to disagree with me regarding something I have said or a point I was trying to make, but it’s something else entirely when that turns into cyberbullying.” She continued. MyKayla mentioned what’s worse is watching people cheer on the bullying which has led to threats of physical harm to her, her husband, and their daughter. She labelled the hate, ‘disgusting.’
MyKayla Skinner and Simone Biles controversy explained
For those who aren't aware of the feud between Skinner and the US Gymnastics Team, Skinner criticized her fellow athletes in a now-deleted YouTube video for not having the work ethic to compete.
Skinner's feud with Biles and backlash from other top gymnasts began when she posted a since-deleted July 3 vlog. In it, she commented negatively on the 2024 team going to Paris. While she briefly praised Biles, she said that Suni Lee did not have a ‘gymnast body,’ criticized the team's makeup, mispronounced team member Hezly Rivera's name, and asserted that the team overall lacked the talent, depth, and ‘work ethic’ of previous years.
Skinner worsened the situation by complaining about the changing culture of gymnastics, which now focuses more on athletes' physical and mental health. She claimed that the U.S. Center for SafeSport made it harder for coaches to push athletes to Olympic levels. She failed to mention that SafeSport was created to reduce sexual, physical, and emotional abuse of minors and athletes. Starting in 2016, USA Gymnastics faced a reckoning over reports of widespread sexual abuse committed by Larry Nassar, the former national team doctor. Biles and some of Skinner’s gymnastics contemporaries identified themselves as Nassar’s victims.
Biles seemed to respond to Skinner on July 30 after leading the gymnastics team to win gold in the team competition, the first of their 10 U.S. medals at the Paris Olympics. Biles shared a carousel of Instagram images of herself and teammates Lee, Rivera, Jade Carey, and Jordan Chiles, raising an American flag to celebrate their win. Biles, who won four medals at the games, captioned her post, "lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions." The following day, Biles told her 1.7 million followers on X that she had been blocked, as reported by TMZ. While she didn’t name names, it was assumed that Skinner had blocked her.
Skinner was an alternate for the U.S. team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, when Biles won four gold medals, including in the all-around competition. She took Biles’ place in the final vault competition at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, winning silver after Biles withdrew from the games, citing mental health and physical safety concerns. Skinner retired from gymnastics in 2021 to study broadcast journalism, got married, and gave birth to a daughter in September 2023.
MyKayla Skinner later issued an apology
After facing backlash for her vlog from Biles and others associated with the current team, Skinner deleted the video and issued an apology. She claimed that her comments were "misinterpreted" and "misunderstood." But she added fuel to the fire by suggesting she appreciated aspects of gymnasts' work ethic "in the Martha (Karolyi) era."
After her public apology, she said she sent individual messages to each of the women on the team, but said, "only Simone responded" with a positive note, saying, "that she was proud of me."
Skinner was surprised that Biles seemed to hit out at her after the team won the gold medal. She said she was dismayed to see this all brought up again by a caption on an Instagram post.
Skinner also said she was heartbroken if Biles truly believed that the team was lazy and lacking talent. The retired gymnast added that she was heartbroken because Biles' social media post and others had fueled a wave of hateful comments and death threats to her, her family, and even her agent.
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