Former US gymnast MyKayla Skinner reveals death threats after Simone Biles feud
Former United States gymnast MyKayla Skinner revealed Tuesday she’s received “threats of physical harm” over her public feud with former teammate and seven-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles.
“I sincerely hoped 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 have said or a point I was trying to make. But it’s something else entirely when that turns into cyber bullying or even worse,” Skinner said in an Instagram video. “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’m just asking for it to stop for the sake of my family because enough is enough.”
How did MyKayla Skinner, Simone Biles feud start?
Skinner, a member of Team USA’s women’s gymnastics team at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, said the following in a since-deleted YouTube video in June:
“Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t what it used to be,” Skinner said. “I mean, obviously, a lot of girls don’t work as hard. The girls just don’t have the work ethic.”
After Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera claimed the gold medal in the team final last Tuesday, Biles appeared to take a shot at Skinner in her celebratory post on Instagram.
“Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions,” Biles wrote.
Biles revealed the next day she had been blocked by Skinner on social media. Skinner previously apologized for her comments about the team’s work ethic in a July Instagram Story post. She offered a written apology to each member of the team and said that only Biles had responded. Biles said she was proud of her. Skinner was surprised that Biles brought the issue up again after she and her teammates won gold in Paris.
MyKayla Skinner calls for Simone Biles to ‘directly and publicly to please put a stop to this’
“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,” Skinner said. “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 what I feel or even how I previously said. But 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 the crossfire here. They’ve done nothing.”
Skinner closed her video with a plea to Biles.
“To Simone, I am asking you directly and publicly to please put a stop to this,” Skinner said. “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 attacked in ways that I’m certain you never intended. Your performance, the team’s performance and the Olympics in general should be a time that we support one another.”