The four-time Olympic gold medalist, Simone Biles, and the retired gymnast, Gabby Douglas, have often been in the news for their endeavors in sports. They were teammates during the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games and won several medals for the United States. However, a few years ago, these two celebrated gymnasts had a bit of a falling out publicly on ‘X’.
Alexandra Raisman tweeted about being s*xually ab*sed by a prominent USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar and expressed her frustration with victim shaming weathered by women who talk about their experiences of s*xual assault. “Just because a woman does a sexy photoshoot or wears a sexy outfit does not give a man the right to shame her or not believe her when she comes forward about s*xual abuse,” Raisman wrote.
We are all in this together. If we are going to create change I need all your help. pic.twitter.com/q9d12z0KHn
— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) November 17, 2017
“What is wrong with some of you? AND when a woman dresses sexy it does give a man the right to s*xually abuse her EVER,” she further added.
The six-time Olympic medalist further said that women are allowed to dress sexily and feel comfortable in their own skin. She urges people to stop victim-shaming. That’s when Gabby Douglas jumped in and said in a since-deleted tweet, “however it is our responsibility as women to dress modestly and be classy. Dressing in a provocative/sexual way entices the wrong crowd“.
Gabby’s response received a lot of backlash on social media, from Olympian Simone Biles. Biles said, “shocks me that I’m seeing this but it doesn’t surprise me..,” and attached a screenshot of Douglas’ deleted tweet.
shocks me that I’m seeing this but it doesn’t surprise me… honestly seeing this brings me to tears bc as your teammate I expected more from you & to support her. I support you Aly 💕 & all the other women out there!
STAY STRONG pic.twitter.com/CccTzhyPcb— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) November 17, 2017
She further added, “honestly seeing this brings me to tears bc as your teammate I expected more from you & to support her. I support you Aly & all the other women out there! STAY STRONG“.
Gabby Douglas is the first African American individual to win the Olympic individual all-around championship. She and Simone Biles are the only two American all-around champions who have won multiple golds in a single Olympics.
Did Gabby Douglas apologize for her tweet?
After facing backlash from all over social media, Gabby Douglas had no other option but to remove her tweet. As an Olympic gold medalist, it was Douglas’s responsibility to be mindful of her statement. Just like Simone Biles showed everyone, otherwise it can have damaging effects on the audience and fans.
When Biles saw the toxicity and crassness of Douglas’ statement, she immediately countered it. The whole thing went out of hand, and Gabby Douglas had to write an apology to undo her mistake.
i didn’t correctly word my reply & i am deeply sorry for coming off like i don’t stand alongside my teammates. regardless of what you wear, abuse under any circumstance is never acceptable. i am WITH you. #metoo
— Gabby Douglas (@gabrielledoug) November 18, 2017
In the apology tweet, Douglas wrote that she realized the frame of words was very wrong from her side. She was “deeply sorry” for acting like she didn’t care about her teammates and supported them. She accepted the fact that it doesn’t matter what one wears; under no circumstances should it be abused.
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