Yesterday, Simone Biles decided to go to war with Riley Gaines on X. I’m not sure why. She doesn’t tweet much but she tweeted this:

Then this:

She decided it was appropriate to attack a woman for her looks despite having been attacked for hers in the past.

Riley is a normal sized actual woman, by the way, at 5’5”. She is also beautiful and strong, inside and out.

Ironically and inadvertently, Biles also acknowledged that men are bigger and stronger (and therefore have an unfair advantage in sports) than women.

I’ve long defended Simone for a million reasons. She’s the GOAT, clearly. Her voice made a difference in exposing abuse in gymnastics, albeit late in the game. And I went against the grain to say that her pulling out of the Olympics in 2021 was standing up against a culture that views young girls — female gymnasts — as nothing more than cogs in a machine meant to win medals. She defended her own bodily safety by pulling out when she knew she wasn’t safe.

But here’s the thing: she didn’t defend the girls and women who exposed Nassar when they first stood up. She let them twist in the wind, get accused of being liars and grifters when they dared tell the truth about a pedophile. Women like Rachael Denhollander and Jamie Dantzscher. She only stood up when it was safe to do so. AFTER Nassar was sentenced.

I no longer defend Simone. She is selfish. A narcissist. She is in it for herself only, and willing to pull up the ladder from the girls who come after her.

Here is my video response to the dust up:

At XX-XY Athletics we responded with this ad, our latest. We can defend girls with our words. Or erase them. Unfortunately, Simone has chosen the latter.

So disappointing.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: not a single currently competing professional or Olympic level female athlete has taken a stand to protect women’s sports. Cowards.

We have a long way to go.