Simone Biles Issues Apology
Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history and a household name in American sports, made headlines this week for something outside of her legendary athletic feats. But not for the reasons one might expect.
After lashing out at former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines—who has become a prominent voice advocating for the protection of women’s sports—Biles attempted to walk it back with a polished Twitter apology. The response? A collective national eyebrow raise.
Over 9,000 tweets are circling with the phrase “Your PR”, and the verdict across social media is loud and resounding: no one believes Simone Biles wrote that statement herself.
Her Tuesday apology read:
“The current system doesn’t adequately balance these important principles, which often leads to frustration and heated exchanges, and it didn’t help for me to get personal with Riley, which I apologize for.”
Let’s be clear—those aren’t the words of a fiery gymnast in a heated moment. Those are the words of a lawyer or a publicist, maybe both. The syntax, the tone, the strategic vagueness—it has all the fingerprints of a calculated PR crisis team response.
Even as Gaines publicly accepted the apology, America didn’t. The backlash isn’t just about whether the apology was genuine—it’s about the disconnect between a national hero and the audience that once championed her.
When the conversation pivots from sportsmanship to social values, and then to what looks like corporate-style image control, audiences feel that change viscerally.
This isn’t just a story about one athlete and one activist. This is about the broader skepticism Americans now bring to the public stage—especially when apologies come dressed in buzzwords and passive voice. We’ve seen too many celebs backpedal under pressure, hiding behind sanitized statements that sound less like repentance and more like risk mitigation.
If Biles had taken ownership for her words, responded directly, and kept it authentic, this might’ve gone differently. But when the apology reads like it was run through six approval cycles and two AI tone checks, people notice. And they remember.