Athleta, the women’s athletic apparel brand owned by Gap Inc., is facing backlash over spokeswoman Simone Biles’ online feud with conservative activist Riley Gaines.
‘Not 1 penny to Athleta until you drop Simone,’ one critic wrote in response to an ad on X.
The controversy began on Friday when Gaines retweeted a picture of a Minnesota softball team that recently won a state title with a player who is reported to be transgender.
‘Comments off lol,’ Gaines wrote in response to an X post that was prohibiting any responses. ‘To be expected when your star player is a boy.’
Gaines’ post sparked a blistering response from Biles, who first criticized the activist’s remark before accusing her of being built like a man.
‘You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race,’ Biles wrote. ‘Straight up sore loser. You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!!
Olympian Simone Biles suggested Riley Gaines is as big as a man. Gaines has now responded
Athleta, the women’s athletic apparel brand owned by Gap Inc., is facing backlash over spokeswoman Simone Biles’ online feud with conservative activist Riley Gaines
Critics came out in force to attack Athleta over its partnership with Simone Biles
‘But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!’
Biles then responded to Gaines again, writing: ‘Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.’
Gaines’ supporters lashed out at Athleta on X by accusing Biles of denigrating women.
‘Your brand ambassador @Simone_Biles is not standing up for and in fact bullying women in sports,’ one critic claimed. ‘Nice.’
‘Women should stand for and with other women athletes, in victory and defeat,’ another added. ‘Body shaming, using size attributes as an insult, some ‘movement’ this’ll turn into when coercion and body shaming are its tools.’
One critic wrote: ‘Biles, as brand ambassador, needs to apologize for her repugnant comments AGAINST women and girls. Get to work, Athleta – time to pick our female side.’
Several others offered some version of the ‘go woke, go broke’ refrain.
Daily Mail has reached out to spokespeople for Biles, Gap Inc. and Athleta.
Issuing a rebuke to Biles, Gaines posted video of herself being measured at 5-foot-5 – both below her listed height on Wikipedia and well shorter than most American men.
‘Figured I would whip out a tape measure to settle this debate,’ Gaines said in the clip she posted on X. Wikipedia says I’m 5-foot-9. Simone Biles, yesterday, told me to bully someone my own size and then said: ‘Ironically, that would be a man.’
Using the ‘go woke, go broke’ refrain, one critic said Simone Biles is ‘dead to us now’
Gaines used Biles’ dig to remind her audience about the origin of their online beef: the debate over transgender athletes in female sports.
‘Number one, acknowledging there are differences between men and women, number two, this is my 6-foot-4 husband,’ Gaines continued, motioning towards her English-born swimmer Louis Barker.
Like her husband, Gaines was also a swimmer at the University of Kentucky , which is how she began advocating against the inclusion of transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports. It was in 2022 that Gaines famously tied for fifth place with transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas in the 200-yard NCAA freestyle championship.
Referencing Thomas by her former name, Gaines claimed the ex-Penn swimmer is the same height as her husband, although online records put her three inches shorter at 6-foot-1.
Regardless, Gaines continued to make her point that she is not, in fact, as big as a man.
‘Clearly I don’t have shoes on,’ Gaines said while recording her reflection from a full-length mirror.
Issuing a rebuke to Biles, Gaines posted video of herself being measured at 5-foot-5 – both below her listed height on Wikipedia and well shorter than most American men
Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines react after finishing tied for 5th in the 2022 200-Freestyle finals at the NCAA Swimming Championships
The outspoken conservative continued: ‘I have to stand on it or haters are gonna say we have a Republican tape measure.’
She then turned the camera toward the tape measure, revealing her height to be 5-foot-5.5.
‘Five-foot-five,’ she said, adding: ‘And a half.
‘This is for the Wikipedia people who list me at 5-foot-9, this is for Simone Biles who tells me to bully someone my own…’ Gaines said before the clip ended abruptly.
As of Saturday evening, Wikipedia was listing Gaines at 5-foot-7. It’s unclear if it was changed recently.
And if it matters: Biles is listed at 4-foot-8.
Gaines, 25, has forged a career as a political commentator for OutKick and Fox following her time as a swimmer.
