MyKayla Skinner accuses Simone Biles of bullying amid online feud; ‘I have been belittled…'

Hindustan Times

5 hours ago

Former US gymnast MyKayla Skinner is calling out Olympic icon Simone Biles, accusing her of years of bullying and saying Biles' recent clash with swimmer Riley Gaines triggered painful memories.
The controversy started earlier this month when Biles, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist, apologized for comparing Gaines to a man. The comment came during a public argument over Gaines' stance against transgender athletes in women's sports.
Skinner, who competed alongside Biles from 2014 to 2020 and represented Team USA at two Olympics, says that moment pushed her to finally speak out.
Also Read: MyKayla Skinner's fans call Simone Biles 'bully,' extend support to Riley Gaines
Last week, Skinner claimed she 'endured being belittled, dismissed and ostracized behind the scenes by Simone,' and expanded on those remarks in a new interview.
'Throughout my career, there have been many times when I have been belittled and bullied by Simone and have wanted to keep quiet for the other athletes,' Skinner told Fox. 'And there have been multiple times through my Olympic journey and through camps, training, everything that we have gone through where she has come and belittled all of us. I've wanted to stay silent through this because she has a huge platform,' as cited by DailyMail report.
Their relationship took a major hit during the 2024 Paris Olympics. Skinner had started a YouTube channel to comment on Team USA's performance and questioned the depth of the roster, saying: 'Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn't like what it used to be.'
Biles fired back on Instagram after winning gold, posting a photo with the caption: 'lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions.' On Threads, she added: 'Not everyone needs a mic and a platform.'
After that, Skinner blocked Biles on Instagram. Biles announced the move on X, and teammate Jordan Chiles shared a photo of Biles holding her phone with proof. Several other gymnasts, including Suni Lee and Jade Carey, also blocked Skinner.
Gymnastics star McKayla Maroney weighed in as well, backing Biles. 'It doesn't get more iconic than this,' she wrote on Instagram. '[Skinner] f'd around n found out fr. Feels like I need to apologize just to redeem my first name.'
Reflecting on the fallout nearly a year later, Skinner says the situation spiraled out of control.
'I had multiple fans reach out that wanted me to go live, publicly live, and wanted me to make a YouTube video commentating Olympic trials because I know gymnastics, I have been to the Olympics, and to share my experiences,' she said. 'Everybody had loved it and then during my short 15-minute YT video they had taken a short clip, twisted my words and it had gone viral.'
'Then the bullying had happened, Simone and I had a conversation and I thought things had died down,' she added. 'More had started to play into it throughout the Olympic games and I was getting bullied, my publicist was also getting bullied, hateful threats comments, comments on my family and daughter.'
'I reached out to Simone personally, and got no response, no response from the girls. I had reached out to my fellow teammates and friends and got no response from them as well.'
Now, Skinner says she wants to shine a light on cyberbullying.
Asked if Biles' 'belittling behavior' happened throughout her career, Skinner said: 'Yes it did. Yes, multiple times throughout. Different moments in my career and it has been very hard and very difficult and this is why I have wanted to speak out. With the Olympics going on that was a major experience that I went through and very difficult and I want to continue to help cyber bullying come to an end.' Simone Biles has not responded to Skinner's recent claims.