Ex-NASCAR driver Danica Patrick weighs in on Riley Gaines and Simone Biles' social media feud over trans athletes
Former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Danica Patrick proudly confessed to taking the 'red pill' as the racing star publicly backed political activist Riley Gaines in her ongoing feud with decorated Olympian Simone Biles over transgender athletes competing in women's sports.
'This issue has a shelf life. I truly believe common sense will prevail,' Patrick, 43, said on Instagram Sunday. 'But until then, I am grateful for people like Riley Gaines who are making sure no one gets away with it. Not to mention the fact that she actually lived it.'
4 Danica Patrick defended Riley Gaines in her ongoing feud with Simone Biles over transgender athletes.
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'Defending men in women's sports is the woke mind virus and/or another issue that requires therapy. Either way, it is so irrational,' she added.
Patrick's comments are the latest in an ongoing war of words between anti-trans activist and former University of Kentucky swimmer Gaines and Olympic gymnast Biles that broke out Friday – a spat that has seen cheap shots taken by both sides.
The sparring began when Biles targeted Gaines with a seemingly unprompted tweet amid controversy over a Minnesota trans high-school softball pitcher's shutout in the state finals Thursday that helped secure the championship.
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'@Riley_Gaines_ You're truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race,' 28-year-old Biles tweeted, referencing Gaines' tie during a race with trans University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA championship.
4 Simone Biles called Riley Gaines a 'bully' for her social media posts about transgender athletes.
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'Straight up sore loser. You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!!' Biles wrote.
'bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male,' she later added.
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Gaines, 25, fired back.
'It's not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces. You can uplift men stealing championships in women's sports with YOUR platform. Men don't belong in women's sports and I say that with my full chest,' Gaines said.
Gaines alluded to Biles' efforts to take down former Team USA gymnastics doctor and prolific sex criminal Larry Nassar.
'All the horrific sexual abuse @Simone_Biles witnessed and spoke out against caused by one man, yet [she] believes women should be forced to strip naked in front of men to validate the man's feelings,' Gaines wrote in another tweet.
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4 Riley Gaines pulled no punches in her bitter online feud with celebrated Olympian Simone Biles.
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Gaines also unearthed an old comment of Biles and used it against her in the widening dispute.
'ahhhh good thing guys don't compete against girls or he'd take all the gold medals !!' Biles wrote in the 2017 tweet, apparently responding to the men's division results at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.
'Oop don't you hate it when your past self completely undermines your current nonsensical argument?' Gaines wrote sarcastically, retweeting Biles' post.
'How has 2025 Simone reconciled with the fact 2017 Simone was a 'truly sick bully' by her own standard?'
4 Danica Patrick said she cast a vote for the first time in her life in the last election when she pulled the lever for Donald Trump.
Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images
Patrick's position comes after she announced she would be voting for President Trump in the last election. Last October, at a campaign event with now Vice President JD Vance Patrick announced that she would be voting for the first time at the age 42.
'I just want to say I've never voted before, but this time around, I have to vote,' Patrick said, sharing the stage with Vance. 'It's that important.'
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She said she would be voting for 'the good guys.'
'I just want to be clear, I want to get on record — you're voting for us, right?' Vance then asked.
'1,000%,' Patrick replied, joking that if she 'could vote twice,' she would.
Patrick retired in 2018 after the 2018 Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500.
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