Olympic gymnast MyKayla Skinner has entered the chat...again.
In a video message posted to Instagram Tuesday, Skinner a Team USA gymnast who competed in the Tokyo Olympics after Simone Biles dropped out due to the twisties, publicly asked Biles "to please put a stop" to what she called cyberbullying that has led to threats against her family. Skinner's message followed a social post from Biles celebrating Team USA's gold medal in Paris last week that also appeared to reference a comment made by Skinner in a since-deleted YouTube video.
"Watching people cheer on the bullying which has led to threats of physical harm to me, my husband and our daughter is disgusting," Skinner said in the video. "So please, at this point, I am just asking for it to just stop for the sake of my family because enough is enough."
Skinner's full video message is below.
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Hey everyone. I sincerely hope that this topic wouldn't need to be revisited. But unfortunately things have really gotten out of hand lately, and it's one thing to disagree with me regarding something I've said or a point I was trying to make, but it's something else entirely when that turns into cyberbullying or even worse.
Watching people cheer on the bullying which has led to threats of physical harm to me, my husband and our daughter is disgusting. So please, at this point, I am just asking for it to just stop for the sake of my family because enough is enough. So why I'm here. It's because about four weeks ago, I made a comment about work ethic and what seems to be taking place with the rising generation. To be totally clear, I take 100% responsibility for poorly articulating the point I was trying to make, and the last thing I wanted was to cause harm or offend our US Olympic team.
I know these women are incredible, the very best of the best, and almost all of them are my former teammates who I have enjoyed very much cheering on the last few years.
I posted a video apology on Instagram.
And I followed up with a written apology and I sent individual messages to each of the women on the team. Only Simone had responded, and she told me that she was proud of me. You guys can imagine my surprise last week when I was celebrating our team winning gold, just to see this brought up all over again by a caption on an Instagram post.
If Simone truly believes that I called our team lazy and lacking talent, and if that's really how she feels, I am really heartbroken over it, but not just heartbroken because it isn't how I feel or even what I previously said, but heartbroken because Simone's latest post and others that followed it fueled another wave of hateful comments. DMs, articles and emails. Hate that includes death threats to me, my family and even my agent. My family and my friends don't deserve to be caught in a crossfire here. They've done nothing. So, to Simone, I am asking you to directly and publicly to please put a stop to this. Please ask your followers to stop. You have been an incredible champion for mental health awareness, and a lot of people need your help now. We've been hurt and attacked in ways that I am certain you never intended.
Your performance. the team's performance and the Olympics in general should be a time that we support one another and lift each other and our country up.
I love our country, and I love our team. And I hope that we can move on and move forward and cheer on the rest of our teammates and our athletes together.
The Biles-Skinner social media controversy explained
Last week, Biles took to social media to celebrate her team's incredible gold medal win at the 2024 Olympics, but her word choice set the gymnastics world on fire.
Biles shared images of her team holding the American flag after winning gold in the women's gymnastics all-around team final. The team included Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera.
"Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions," she captioned the post.
Biles' words appeared to reference a comment made by Skinner, who stepped in for Biles at the Tokyo Olympics after she dropped out due to the twisties. In the now-deleted YouTube video, Skinner commented on what she said was a lack of "talent" and "depth" in the upcoming gymnastics fields.
Biles had responded to the remark shortly after Skinner made it, and Skinner had apologized for the remarks saying they were "misinterpreted" or "misunderstood."
But all the controversy surrounding the video resurfaced after Biles' post last week, which was praised by Olympians around the world, including her gold medal-winning teammates.
Skinner did not immediately respond to that post, but appeared to block Biles on social media.
That all changed on Tuesday.
"At this point, I am just asking for it to just stop for the sake of my family, because enough is enough," Skinner said in the new video, explaining, "I made a comment about work ethic and what seems to be taking place with the rising generation. To be totally clear, I take 100% responsibility for poorly articulating the point I was trying to make, and the last thing I wanted was to cause harm or offend our US Olympic team."
"I know these women are incredible, the very best of the best, and almost all of them are my former teammates who I have enjoyed very much cheering on the last few years," she continued, saying she posted a video apology on Instagram and followed up with a written apology and individual messages "to each of the women on the team."
"Only Simone had responded and she told me that she was proud of me," Skinner said. "You guys can imagine my surprise last week when I was celebrating our team winning gold. Just to see this brought up all over again by a caption on an Instagram post."
This is when Skinner talks in the video about the effects of Biles' latest post.
"If Simone truly believes that I called our team lazy and lacking talent, and if that's really how she feels, I am really heartbroken over it, but not just heartbroken because it isn't how I feel or even what I previously said but heartbroken because Simone's latest post and others that followed it fueled another wave of hateful comments."
Skinner said she received DMs and emails that included death threats to herself, her family and her agent.
"My family and my friends don't deserve to be caught in a crossfire here," she said. "They've done nothing. So to Simone, I am asking you directly and publicly to please put a stop to this. Please ask your followers to stop. You have been an incredible champion for mental health awareness and a lot of people need your help now. We've been hurt and attacked in ways that I am certain you never intended."
Skinner ended by saying, "I love our country and I love our team. And I hope that we can move on and move forward and cheer on the rest of our teammates and our athletes together."
