The feud between Simone Biles and Riley Gaines over the transgender issue took a turn for the better with Biles issuing an apology: a well crafted created-by-a-PR-team-and-maybe-a-lawyer-or-two apology.
I wanted to follow up from my last tweets. I’ve always believed competitive equity & inclusivity are both essential in sport. The current system doesn’t adequately balance these important principles, which often leads to frustration and heated exchanges, and it didn’t help for me…
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) June 10, 2025
It's a long one. Here's the text in full.
to get personal with Riley, which I apologize for. These are sensitive, complicated issues that I truly don’t have the answers or solutions to, but I believe it starts with empathy and respect.
I was not advocating for policies that compromise fairness in women’s sports. My objection is to be singling out children for public scrutiny in ways that feel personal and harmful. Individual athletes—especially kids—should never be the focus of criticism of a flawed system they have no control over. I believe sports organizations have a responsibility to come up with rules supporting inclusion while maintaining fair competition. We all want a future for sport that is fair, inclusive, and respectful.
Xoxo Simone
Honestly, putting the workshopped apology construction aside, it is good for the heart to see this conciliatory gesture. The Social Media era could use a whole lot more of this.
That said, some were skeptical of the sincerity.
You’re getting pretty good at mental gymnastics as well.
— Magills (@magills_) June 10, 2025
You misspelled “I’m sorry, Riley Gaines.”
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) June 10, 2025
Ah, there it is, the missing ingredient.
Good thing ChatGPT didn’t go down until after it wrote this.
— 🫃🏼💉🇺🇦🥥Hollaria Briden, Esq. (@HollyBriden) June 10, 2025
'ChatGPT, write an apology that both appeases the woke and doesn't actually apologize. Make sure there it doesn't expose me to legal consequences.'
What is "competitive equity," and why doesn't it apply to genetic males competing athletically with girls?
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) June 10, 2025
The moment when buzzwords collide with reality. It's never a pretty sight.
In this culture, celebrities are expected to support the Narrative regardless of whether they believe it or not. Sadly, the particular incident that provoked Biles' outrage appears to be a classic case of Transhausen-by-Proxy and basically a made-for-TV incident.
You know what's really interesting about the "singled out person" in California? His mother pimped him out to multiple media outlets and every single local news org in California ran multiple stories about him. Meanwhile, girls and women just want fair competition. Hopefully you…
— Julie Hamill (@hamill_law) June 10, 2025
Continued.
take some time to reflect on how you contribute to false narratives and harm to young female athletes.
This variety of attention whore is bad - even worse than the Kardashians.
You messed up huge.
— Queen Velvet (@TMIWITW) June 10, 2025
You literally compete in a gendered sport. There are different events for males and females.
You don’t compete on the pommel horse.
For you act as if you yourself do not understand the physical differences between males and females makes this apology…
... less sincere.
Okay but *do* you believe it's fair and acceptable for men to compete in women's sports and use women's locker rooms?
— Sarah Beth Burwick (@sarahbeth345) June 10, 2025
Do you think it would be fair if gymnastics' governing bodies abolished single-sex events and had men and women competing together on all events?
We want to…
... know your positions on this. Your opinions. Not your PR firm's.
I want to accept your apology.
— Jennifer 🟥🔴🧙♀️🦉🐈⬛ 🦖 (@babybeginner) June 10, 2025
Pick. Fair competition or inclusion. You can’t have both. It’s not fair to include boys in with girls.
Riley was singling out the girls to let them know they have support against being cheated. They need to know someone is in their corner.
This is the crux of it. Biological males should not compete against women.
I accept Simone's apology for the personal attacks including the ones where she body-shamed me. I know she knows what this feels like. She's still the greatest female gymnast of all time.
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) June 10, 2025
A couple of things. Sports ARE inclusive by nature. Anyone can and everyone SHOULD play… https://t.co/V8YbMvs3xf
The rest of Gaines' post.
... play sports. Competition, on the other hand and by definition, is exclusive. So the idea of "competitive equity" is nonsensical. Secondly, the boys are publicly humiliating the girls. To suggest that women and girls must be silent or ignore a boy who is PUBLICLY hurting or humiliating them is wrong. You can't have any empathy and compassion for the girls if you're ignoring when young men are harming or abusing them. I am not ashamed to be a voice for the voiceless. Lastly, I agree with you that the blame is on the lawmakers and leaders at the top. Precisely why I'm suing the NCAA and support candidates who vow to stand with women. That's why I joined
at the signing of his Executive Order. I didn't see you there or championing this effort with your platform. Women's sports can't be used as an excuse for girl's to center the feelings and validation of men and boys. I welcome you to the fight to support fair sports and a future for female athletes. Little girls deserve the same shot to achieve that you had.
We hope that this is the end of the feud and hopefully the end of the debate over whether biological males should compete in women's sports.
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