MyKayla Skinner issued a formal apology for her controversial criticism of the United States and the gymnastics team it is sending to Paris for the Olympics. She did not allow anyone to comment.
The 27-year-old could not handle the heat!
Skinner, who won a silver medal on the vault in place of Simone Biles in Tokyo, retired from the sport shortly after competition. Now three years later, the Olympics are on the horizon and will get underway in less than a month.
Team USA announced its team last week. It expects to win the gold medal after a frustrating silver in 2021.
Biles is the headliner. Suni Lee is back as the reigning All-Around champion. Jade Carey is the reigning gold medalist in Floor Exercise. Jordan Chiles brings a lot of experience to the table as well. They will be joined by 16-year-old newcomer Hezly Rivera, a rising star who has been labeled as the future.
Despite all of the talent on the roster, Skinner doesn’t think this year’s team is up to standard. She recently issued criticism of U.S. Gymnastics that immediately blew up in her face.
Biles quipped that “not everyone needs a mic and a platform” after Skinner made explosive comments about her former team’s lack of work ethic, among other things. Shawn Johnson rejected the negativity and offered an extremely different perspective on this year’s team.
Skinner then issued an extremely weak apology in response to the blowback and failed to take responsibility for what was said. She claimed that her words were twisted, which only made things worse.
MyKayla Skinner apologized, again.
It appears as though Skinner hired a PR team to help try and safe face. A second apology went live on her Instagram on late Saturday evening. Both the graphic and the actual written words read as though they were written/created by professionals or Chat GPT. They are so vanilla and cookie-cutter.
The most contentious part of Skinner’s initial comments related to former U.S. Gym coach Marta Karolyi, who was directly tied to the Larry Nassar scandal and often accused of physical and emotional abuse by her athletes. Her new apology dedicated an entire paragraph to that topic.
MyKayla Skinner made the decision to turn off comments on her post. She is hiding from any further backlash. It is a cowardly approach to a situation that was self-imposed.