What did Riley Gaines say about Simone Biles during her pregnancy announcement? Details explored

On June 14, Riley Gaines, an American conservative political activist and former swimmer, announced her pregnancy with her first child with Louis Barker at the Turning Point USA event. The couple got married in 2022 and are welcoming a baby girl.

The pregnancy announcement also took a jab at Simone Biles, the 28-year-old American artistic gymnast, through the statement.

"I think the funniest thing about this to me and her (Simone Biles) saying, "Bully someone your own size which would ironically be a man." How many men do you know that have this (showing her belly bump)."

The statement was a reference to Biles's X (formerly Twitter) post, which she shared on June 7.

"Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male @Riley_Gaines_"

The tension between Simone Biles and Riley Gaines began when Gaines made anti-trans comments under a post shared by the Minnesota State High School League.

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Simone Biles calls out Riley Gaines through tweets

On June 6, the Minnesota State High School League shared a photo on X with the caption,

"Meet Champlin Park, the Class AAAA Softball State Champion for 2025."

Sharing the post, Riley Gaines wrote,

"Comments off lol To be expected when your star player is a boy"

According to Fox News, Marissa Rothenberger, a transgender athlete, helped Champlin Park High School win the state championship. Gaines' tweet got the attention of many, including Simone Biles, who wrote on X,

"You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. 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!!"

She continued,

"But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!"

After a heated exchange between them through a series of Instagram posts and tweets, Simone apologized to Riley on June 10 through a tweet that read,

"I wanted to follow up from my last tweets. I’ve always believed competitive equity & inclusivity are both essential in sport. 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."

She also said it’s not right to blame young athletes for rules they didn’t make and added that sports groups should find a fair and inclusive way to move forward.

Riley accepted Simone’s apology, saying she appreciated it, but added that sports are already inclusive and that girls shouldn’t stay silent when they feel hurt or are treated unfairly.

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To know complete details of their feud and heated exchange, check this out: What happened between Simone Biles and Riley Gaines?