Simone Biles and MyKayla Skinner (Photos via Getty Images & @mykaylaskinner2016/IG)
MyKayla Skinner may not have a friendship with Simone Biles like she once had, but she is making an emotional plea to her for help.
Skinner is speaking out after some back-and-forth drama with Simone Biles during the 2024 Olympic Games.
The 27-year-old took to her Instagram this week and addressed the caption that Simone Biles posted on Instagram, seemingly shading her with a lengthy video.
MyKayla Skinner made a direct plea to Biles to ask her followers to stop cyberbullying Skinner and her family.
One month before the Olympics, Skinner made headlines when she shared harsh criticism for the 2024 U.S. women’s artistic gymnastics team. She later said that her comments were “misinterpreted” and eventually issued a statement apologizing.
In this week’s video, Skinner said that after her initial comments in June, she posted an apology video and sent written apologies and individual messages to the entire Team USA gymnastics lineup, which includes Biles, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, Suni Lee, and Hezly Rivera.
However, Simone Biles’ caption on social media made trolls come after her.
“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.”
Skinner continued, saying that if Biles “truly believes” that Skinner called the team “lazy and lacking talent,” as Biles implied in her Instagram caption, then she is “really heartbroken over it.”
The former gymnast said she felt as though Simone Biles’ post “fueled another wave of hateful comments,” which made her fan base send death threats to her, her husband, Jonas Harmer, and their 11-month-old daughter, Charlotte.
“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 hurt and 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 and lift each 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 athletes together.”
Skinner said she’d hoped the matter “wouldn’t need to be revisited” after Team USA won gold, but unfortunately, Simone Biles’ lit a fire in trolls and the are cyberbullying her and her family.
“I’m just asking for it to stop for the sake of my family because enough is enough,” she said.
Simone Biles Previously Shaded MyKayla Skinner After Gold Win at 2024 Olympics
Simone Biles used MyKayla Skinner’s own words against her while celebrating the victory of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team at the Olympics.
Biles and teammates Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera won the gold medal in the team finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She took to Instagram and wrote, “Lack of talent, lazy, Olympic champions.”
Her caption was an apparent dig at Skinner, who criticized this year’s team for lacking a “work ethic.”
