Following her explosive online spat with Riley Gaines over transgender athletes, Simone Biles deactivates her account on X (formerly Twitter).
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The seven-time Olympic gold medalist quit X over the weekend. Her account had nearly two million followers. Meanwhile, her’ Threads account (2.1 million followers) and Instagram (12.4 million followers) are still up and running.
Biles previously slammed Gaines after the former swimmer called out the Minnesota State School League for allowing a transgender athlete to play in the women’s softball championship.
Biles quickly took to X and called Gaines “a straight up loser” and “sick.”
“You are truly sick,” Biles stated. “All of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser.”
She later apologized for the personal remarks against Gaines.
Riley Gaines Speaks Out About Simone Biles Quitting X
Not long after Simone Biles quit X, Riley Gaines shared her thoughts about the social media move.
In a post on X, Gaines shared a screenshot of Biles’ account no longer existing and wrote why she believed the gymnast quit. “Has an incredibly unpopular and morally indefensible take,” she wrote. “Gets rightfully ridiculed for it. Issues a groveling pubic apology after unrelenting backlash. Deletes account to pretend it never happened.”
Gaines’ X post comes just after the former swimmer spoke out about wanting to team up with Biles.
“Look, Simone is someone I’ve looked up to, I’ve respected for so long,” she said about Biles. “She has done so much for women’s sports, of course, for the sport of gymnastics, but even broader than that for women in general.”
Gaines then said that the “stance” Biles shared “felt so deeply visceral” to her, not because of the personal attacks. “More so against because of how she used her platform,” she pointed out. “A platform where young girls all across the nation, young girls like my little system, who’s a gymnast, look up to her.”
“In the blink of an eye, she effectively pulled up the ladder behind her,” the former athlete continued. “And again, a way that way, I think, done in haste. I think there was a lot of ignorance to the issue when she issued her initial tweets on that Friday morning.”
Gaines further praised Biles’ platform as being “still incredible,” despite the online feud. “Her career has been illustrious, to say the least,” she added. “I think we could do a lot together if she were willing to do it.”