Olympic gymnast MyKayla Skinner has broken her silence about a high-profile social media feud stemming from controversial comments she previously made about her former Olympic teammates that resurfaced via a post last week by her former teammate Simone Biles.
In a video message Skinner posted Tuesday to Instagram, the gymnast publicly asks Biles "to please put a stop" to what she calls cyberbullying that "has led to threats of physical harm to me, my husband and our daughter." This followed a social post from Biles celebrating Team USA's gold medal in Paris last week that also seemingly targeted a comment made by Skinner in a since-deleted YouTube video.
"I sincerely hoped that this topic wouldn't need to be revisited," Skinner said in the video message. "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."
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.
Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters.
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.
Paris 2024 Summer Olympics
Watch all the action from the Paris Olympics live on NBC
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."
