American Olympic gymnast MyKayla Skinner is calling on her former teammate Simone Biles to help “put a stop” to cyberbullying. This comes after MyKayla posted a now-deleted video on her YouTube in June 2024 stating that some gymnasts lacked “work ethic.” Many people took that as a hit toward members of the 2024 Olympic team. “Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t like what it used to be,” she stated then. “Just notice like, I mean, obviously a lot of girls don’t work as hard. The girls just don’t have the work ethic.”
She received a lot of backlash for her comments.
MyKayla received a lot of backlash for her statement, to which she replied in a video posted to her Instagram Stories on July 3, 2024. She claimed that her initial comments were “misinterpreted” and that they “[weren’t] necessarily about the current team.”
MyKayla later issued a formal apology.
In a post to her Instagram page, the former gymnast issued a formal apology. “Dear Team USA and our gymnastics community, I want to formally apologize to Team USA and to our gymnastic community for my comments during my recent YouTube episodes of the gymnastics Olympic trials,” she wrote. “It was not my intention to offend or disrespect any of the athletes or to take away from their hard work. Your hard work and dedication has paid off and I congratulate each and every one of you.”
She then went on to note that she was “coming to terms” of not having dealt with the “emotional and verbal abuse” she endured under Marta, which refers to Márta Károlyi, the former national team coordinator for Team USA.
But Simone was ready to clap back.
In an Instagram post made by Simone after the US women’s gymnastics team won the gold medal in the women’s team competition in Paris, the gymnast took a jab at her former teammate in the caption. “Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions ❤️🥇🇺🇸,” she wrote.
MyKayla made a video addressing the cyberbullying.
In a recent video, MyKayla claimed that Simone’s followers had been cyberbullying her since her post. “Unfortunately things have really gotten out of hand lately,” she said, adding that it has led her to receiving “threats of physical harm” to her and her family.
She took ‘100% responsibility’ for her comments.
“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,” the gymnast said. “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 asked for Simone’s help.
“To Simone, I am asking you directly and publicly to please put a stop to this. Please ask your followers to stop,” she pleaded. “You have been an incredible champion for mental health awareness, and lot of people need your help now. We’ve been hurt and attacked in ways that I am certain you never intended,” she said, adding that her friends and family have “been caught in the crossfire.” Concluding, MyKayla voiced, “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.”
Watch MyKayla’s entire video here.