Simone Biles Says She's Been Blocked On Social Media Amid Spat W/ MyKayla Skinner | TMZ Sports
Simone Biles says she's been blocked on social media -- and while she didn't name any names ... just about everyone thinks MyKayla Skinner's the one who put the G.O.A.T. on mute.
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00:00Welcome to TMZ Sports.
00:07I'm Mike Babcock with my guy as always, Mojo Mutati.
00:11Mojo, the Olympics still in full swing.
00:14We talked about the incredible performance yesterday from our Team USA women's gymnastics
00:20team, like us, Mojo, going for gold.
00:24Now it's a great accomplishment, not just for Simone Biles, for the entire team, but
00:29let's be honest.
00:30Simone's the star.
00:31She's the one with the five gold medals, the eight total, despite the huge win, Mojo, not
00:38only celebrating gold and fan adulation, there is some drama surrounding the Team USA women's
00:44gymnastics team.
00:45And again, their biggest star, Simone Biles.
00:48So Michaela Skinner, Mojo, that name may sound familiar to fans out there, especially fans
00:53of gymnastics, because she too was a very accomplished gymnast who happened to actually
00:58in the past be teammates with Simone Biles.
01:01Well, Michaela Skinner a couple of weeks ago made a comment on a YouTube video that seemed
01:08to really irk Simone Biles because after Simone Biles won her gold medal, she clapped back
01:15at Michaela.
01:16Now, if you didn't see the original video, again, this is a couple of weeks ago.
01:20This is the original comments made by Michaela that kicked off a whole bunch of drama.
01:26Watch this.
01:27Why did Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn't like what it used to
01:34be.
01:35Just notice, like, I mean, obviously a lot of girls don't work as hard.
01:37The girls just don't have the work ethic, like, and it's hard to because a safe sport
01:41like coaches can't get on athletes and they have to be really careful what they say, which
01:46in some ways is really good, but at the same time to get to where you need to be in gymnastics,
01:50you do have to be, I feel like a little aggressive and a little intense because I feel like,
01:55you know, Russia is not going to be there, so they don't have to have the stress of
01:58Russia.
01:59And then what other teams really are there?
02:00I mean, there's a lot of teams that have gotten better and have gotten stronger, but I feel
02:06like no matter what, as long as we do a decent job, we'll be fine.
02:09And just some of the other girls that fell twice and still ending up in second place
02:13in the all around, just kind of crazy to me.
02:16So there was Mojo.
02:18Now, Simone Biles, if you thought she didn't see or hear that, you're wrong because she
02:23absolutely did.
02:24And that was very evident after the Team USA girls win Olympic gold.
02:29Simone goes to Instagram and writes, lack of talent, lazy Olympic champions with a heart
02:37and with a gold medal.
02:39Mojo clearly responding to Michaela's comments.
02:43Look, Michaela, basically she wasn't knocking Simone Biles.
02:46She was knocking some of the other women saying that they didn't work as hard as possibly
02:51they should, weren't as talented as maybe they could be.
02:54Simone didn't take kindly to that.
02:56Hey, Babcock, we've talked about similar stories in the past here.
03:01My opinion remains unchanged.
03:04I actually don't fault Michaela at all for what she said.
03:09I mean, I don't think she said anything out of line.
03:11I mean, that's her observation as a former talent, you know, making comments about former
03:17teammates, former teams in general.
03:19I mean, you see NFL, NBA, MLS analysts do this on a daily basis, right, talking about
03:26their own teams.
03:27I've said my share, you know, about old teammates or something like that.
03:32So I don't think she's out of line volunteering her opinions.
03:35I don't think she went after anyone personally or maliciously.
03:39So I don't think anyone should necessarily be going after Michaela.
03:43I mean, she spoke very even toned, I would say, in addition.
03:49But hey, kind of like a Harrison Bunker situation, you might be entitled to say what you want
03:55to say, but that does not prevent the clapback that you are going to get.
04:01Hell yeah, if I'm a teammate and I heard somebody else talking trash about me saying I'm lazy
04:06or I don't work hard, I'm not as talented, whatever it might be, of course, I'm going
04:11to have a clapback about it, especially if I bring home the bacon.
04:18That's what you do.
04:19So I don't think this needs to be anything malicious.
04:21You have your back and forth, whatever you go on, life goes on.
04:25I'm not saying they need to be best friends and they have to hang out on a regular basis.
04:30They don't have to speak to each other ever again, as far as I'm concerned.
04:33But yeah, you got the gold, you're happy, and it is fun to go ahead and bury the haters
04:38on the way.
04:39I'm OK with both sides of this.
04:40Yeah, it reminds me, Mojo, of someone like a quarterback who retires.
04:44We'll see it from Tom Brady in a couple of months.
04:47You retire and if you're going to act as an analyst, you've got to be honest.
04:51It's not about being a cheerleader for Simone Biles or for Team USA.
04:55If you're acting as an analyst, you've got to give your honest opinion.
04:59That's what Michaela thought, then hey, more power to her.
05:01Now you can say, on the other hand, that Simone Biles and her teammates, they went out there
05:06and showed that take was nonsense because they blew away the field and they win a gold
05:10medal.
05:11So, Mojo, you say, how does Michaela react to Simone Biles' lack of talent, lazy Olympic
05:16champions post?
05:18Well, we do now have that answer as well because Simone Biles followed up that Instagram post
05:23by going to X and saying, oops, I've been blocked with a couple of emojis.
05:30And, of course, there we also get this photo from one of Simone's teammates showing that,
05:35yes, in fact, Michaela did actually block Biles from seeing her social media pages.
05:41So, Mojo, like you said, it doesn't sound like they're going to be best friends going
05:45forward here.
05:46I really don't have a problem with either of the women's behavior here.
05:50I don't think anybody was out of line.