2 months ago
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MyKayla Skinner is speaking out in a new video after a whirlwind of attention over the past few weeks. The 27-year-old gymnast made some comments during the Olympic trials, saying, “besides Simone [Biles], I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t, like, what it used to be.” “A lot of girls don’t work as hard,” she continued. “The girls just don’t have the work ethic.” This brought a lot of backlash, she took down the original video and issued an apology, saying her words were misinterpreted. Since then, Simone has shaded MyKayla‘s comments and revealed her former teammate blocked her on social media. Now, MyKayla has shared a new video calling for an end to all the hate coming her way, saying she and her family have been getting death threats. She has also directly asked for Simone to speak out to put a stop to it. Keep reading to find out more… “I love our country and don’t want to take anything away from our athletes. Let’s use this time to build each other up, not tear others down ❤️🇺🇸” she captioned her video message on Instagram. “I sincerely hoped that this topic wouldn’t need to be revisited but unfortunately things have really gotten out of hand lately. 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,” MyKayla says in the video. “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.” “So why I’m here is because about four weeks ago, I made a comment about work ethic and what seems to be taking pace with the rising generation,” she continues. “To be totally clear, I take 100 percent responsibility for poorly articulating the point I was trying to make and the last thing I wanted was to cause harm or offend our U.S. Olympic team. 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.” “I posted a video apology on Instagram and I followed up with a written apology and I sent individual messages to each of the women on the team,” MyKayla added. “Only Simone had responded and she told me that she was proud of me. You guys can imagine my surprise last week when I was celebrating our team winning gold just to see this brought up all over again by a caption on an 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. 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.” She then addressed Simone directly. “To Simone, I am asking you directly and publicly to please put a stop to this. 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. Your performance, the team’s performance and the Olympics in general should be a time that we support one another.”
