MyKayla Skinner says things have gotten out of hand after she criticized the current Team USA gymnastics team last month.
On Tuesday, the 27-year-old former gymnast shared a four-minute video on Instagram, where she addressed the backlash stemming from her saying the current USA gymnastics team lacked “work ethic.”
"Besides Simone [Biles], I feel like the talent and the depth just isn't like what it used to be," Skinner said last month in a now-deleted YouTube video. "I mean, obviously a lot of girls don't work as hard. The girls just don't have the work ethic."
Despite claiming her comments were “misinterpreted” and taken “out of context,” Skinner found herself in the headlines again after Biles clapped back with an Instagram post showing of the team's gold medals and captioned, “lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions ❤️🥇🇺🇸.”
It seems that the renewed attention on Skinner’s past remarks have led to threats and cyber bullying.
“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,” Skinner said on Tuesday.
“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 am just asking for it to just stop for the sake of my family because enough is enough,” she added.
Skinner says that she takes full responsibility for “poorly articulating” the point she was trying to make and did not mean “to cause harm or offend” the Olympic team, noting that some of the women are her former teammates.
“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. Only Simone had responded and she told me that she was proud of me,” Skinner said further into the video.
Skinner said she was surprised to see the issue resurface last week through Biles’ Instagram caption.
“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 how I feel or even what I previously said but heartbroken 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,” she said.
“So my family and my friends don't deserve to be caught in a crossfire here," Skinner continued. "They've done nothing.”
Skinner eventually appealed to Biles directly, asking her to help stop the hate being directed at her and her loved ones, saying, “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.”
She continued, “We've been hurt and attacked in ways that I am certain you never intended. Your performance, the team's performance, and the Olympics in general should be a time that we support one another and lift each other and our country up.”
“I love our country, and I love our team, and I hope that we can move on and move forward and cheer on the rest of our teammates and our athletes together,” Skinner added.