MyKayla Skinner Addresses Simone Biles’ Olympic Work Ethic Comments: 'Please Put a Stop to This'

MyKayla Skinner responded after Simone Biles dissed the former Olympic gymnast’s comments about Team USA’s work ethic by using them in her caption following their gold medal win in the team all-around final.

The Arizona native, 27, took to Instagram on Tuesday, August 6, with a video response in which she explained that she has endured cyberbullying and “threats of physical harm.”

“I sincerely hoped that this topic wouldn’t need to be revisited, but unfortunately, things have really gotten out of hand lately,” MyKayla said. “And it’s one thing to disagree with me regarding something I have said or a point I was trying to make, but it’s something else entirely when that turns into cyber bullying or even worse. Watching people cheer on the bullying — which has led to threats of physical harm to me my husband and our daughter — is disgusting. So please at this point, I’m just asking for it to stop for the sake of my family because enough is enough.”

The silver medalist reiterated that this began when she made comments “about work ethic and what seems to be taking place with the rising generation.” MyKayla added that she took responsibility for “poorly articulating the point” and noted that she never intended to offend Team USA’s gymnasts.

“I know these women are incredible — the very best of the best — and almost all of them are my former teammates who I have enjoyed very much cheering on the last few years,” she continued.

MyKayla recalled the apology video she posted after she received backlash for her initial comments. She explained that she thought she had made amends with Simone, 27, who “responded and told me that she was proud of me.” However, she was then surprised to see that the gold medalist had referenced her comments in her Instagram post.

“If Simone truly believes that I called our team lazy and lacking talent and if that’s really how she feels, I am really heartbroken over it. But not just heartbroken because it isn’t what I feel or even how I previously said, but because Simone’s latest post and others that followed it fueled another wave of hateful comments, DMs, articles and emails,” MyKayla continued. “Hate that includes death threats to me, my family and even my agent. My family and my friends don’t deserve to be caught in the crossfire here. They’ve done nothing.”

MyKayla concluded by directly asking Simone to help put a stop to the cyberbullying.

“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 attacked in ways that I’m certain you never intended,” she said. “Your performance, the team’s performance and the Olympics in general should be a time that we support one another.”

Simone made headlines when she referenced MyKayla’s comments with her Instagram caption following Team USA’s win in the team all-around final on July 30. “Lack of talent, lazy, Olympic champions,” she wrote.

MyKayla’s original comments came in a since-deleted YouTube video posted during the Olympic Trials in late June. “Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t what it used to be. I mean, obviously, a lot of girls don’t work as hard. The girls just don’t have the work ethic,” she said. “A lot of girls don’t work as hard. It’s hard, too, because of SafeSport. Coaches can’t get on athletes which in some ways is really good but at the same time, to get to where you need to be in gymnastics you do have to be … a little aggressive, a little intense.”

In her apology, MyKayla said that her comments were “misunderstood” and that she “wasn’t necessarily [talking] about the current team.”