PARIS, France — Former Team USA gymnast MyKayla Skinner says she's received death threats and been the target of other cyberbullying, and she's calling on Simone Biles to put an end to it.
In a lengthy Instagram video, Skinner said Biles' fans have piled on the "bullying" in the days following a seemingly-pointed Instagram post by Biles, which seemed to be a response to critical comments Skinner made against the U.S. women's gymnastics team before the Olympics.
In early July, Skinner said in a now-deleted YouTube video that "besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t like what it used to be."
"Just notice like, I mean, obviously a lot of girls don’t work as hard. The girls just don’t have the work ethic,” Skinner continued.
Skinner's comments brought backlash online, and she posted an apology note on her Instagram page.
“It was not my intention to offend or disrespect any of the athletes or to take away from their hard work,” Skinner's statement said, in part.
After the team won gold, Skinner posted to her Instagram stories a photo of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team during the gold medal ceremony with three hearts over it. Five hours later, Biles posted on her Instagram a celebratory photo of her alongside her four Olympic teammates Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera with the caption "lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions ❤️🥇."
Skinner said in her response on Tuesday that since Biles' post, she experienced cyberbullying, including threats of "physical harm" to her family.
"To Simone, I am asking you directly and publicly to please put a stop to this. Please ask your followers to stop," Skinner said.
"You have been an incredible champion for mental health awareness, and lot of people need your help now. We've been hurt and attacked in ways that I am certain you never intended," Skinner continued, explaining that her friends and family have "been caught in the crossfire."
Skinner said she sent personal apologies to the women on the Paris Olympic team following her comments.
"To be totally clear, I take 100% 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," Skinner said in the video. "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."
Skinner also said she initially thought she made amends with Biles and feels "heartbroken" about what has transpired.
"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," Skinner said. "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."
Biles, who won four medals in Paris, has not yet publicly responded to Skinner's video.
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