MyKayla Skinner Harmer is calling out Simone Biles.
He Stunning performance by Simone Biles And the rest of the U.S. gymnastics team has won 7 Olympic medals. Three of them are gold.
However, just a few weeks ago, MyKayla Skinner Harmer, who has technically She never made the Olympic team except as an alternate, and sparked controversy by attacking current gymnasts. Simone Biles responded with applause.
Now, MyKayla is asking Simone to rescue her from online criticism. Is she making this all about herself? And is it really Simone’s responsibility?
Remember MyKayla Skinner Harmer?
MyKayla was an alternate at the 2016 Olympics. That year, she became the center of a controversy after editing her photo onto Team USA gymnast. Gabby DouglasThe racist emojis that accompanied it didn’t help.
She then competed at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics (as an individual), winning a silver medal on vault.
With the exception of die-hard gymnastics fans, many people have forgotten about MyKayla Skinner Harmer until recently. In a now-deleted YouTube video, MyKayla lashed out at Team USA gymnasts.
Do Olympic athletes tend to be “lazy” people?
MyKayla Skinner Harmer accused the Olympic gymnasts who will represent the United States at the 2024 Paris Games of being “lazy” and lacking athleticism.
“I feel like the talent and the depth isn’t what it used to be,” she said. “Just look at, I mean, obviously a lot of girls don’t work as hard. Girls just don’t have the work ethic.” That seems to be patently false.
MyKayla also hinted that security ruleswhich emerged after the Dr. Nassar’s many crimeswere somehow making the team worse. It’s hard to understand why MyKayla would take those positions or what she hoped to gain by sharing them.
Simone Biles took the right path
Simone Biles, for her part, responded in a moderate tone. For example, she did not mention MyKayla Skinner Harmer by name.
Instead, he offered a joke. Instagram Caption below photos of her and other Team USA gymnasts.
“Lack of talent, laziness, Olympic champions,” she described. Other Olympians, past and present (and in particular McKayla Maroney)
Now, MyKayla Skinner Harmer is begging Simone Biles to ask her fans and followers to leave her alone.
On Tuesday, August 6, MyKayla took to Instagram to directly address Simone Biles. While the two women likely met at the Tokyo Games, they presumably do not have each other’s contact information.
MyKayla lamented what she called a “wave of hateful comments” that included alleged “death threats.”
She pleaded: “Simone, I ask you directly and publicly to please put an end to this.”
MyKayla Skinner Harmer would like the backlash to end
“Please ask your followers to stop doing this. You have been an amazing advocate for mental health awareness and so many people need your help right now,” pleaded MyKayla Skinner Harmer.
She said of herself and her family: “We have been hurt and attacked in ways I am sure you never intended.”
We’re also sure that Simone Biles didn’t mean to do that, but it seems that MyKayla believes that Simone is somehow responsible for it.
She reports that there have been threats
“To see people encourage bullying, which has resulted in threats of physical harm against me, my husband and our daughter, is sickening,” said MyKayla Skinner Harmer. “So please, at this point I’m just asking that it stop for the sake of my family, because enough is enough.”
She also attempted to walk back previous comments, stressing: “I know these women are amazing, the best of the best, and almost all of them are my former teammates who I have thoroughly enjoyed cheering on over the years.”
“If Simone truly believes that I called our team lazy and lacking talent and if that is truly how she feels, it breaks my heart,” he lamented.
It’s unclear how this could be Simone’s fault.
“But I’m not only heartbroken because this isn’t how I feel or even what I said before, but because Simone’s latest post and others that followed fueled another wave of hateful comments,” MyKayla Skinner Harmer said.
“I hate that it includes death threats against me, my family, and even my agent,” she continued. “My family and friends do not deserve to be caught in the crossfire. They have done nothing.”
We hope that the threats of death or violence will cease. While it is difficult to see this as Simone Biles’ business, let alone her responsibility, threats are not an appropriate response.