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Suni Lee Breaks Silence on MyKayla Skinner’s Olympic ‘Work Ethic’ Critiques: ‘Annoying’
Suni Lee broke her silence on MyKayla Skinner’s controversial comments about the 2024 USA women’s gymnastics team at the Paris Games, when she questioned their “work ethic.”
“We have a lot of love for [MyKayla], but it’s frustrating to see her put us down because she knows, basically, about every single thing that we’ve all been through,” Suni, 21, told Glamour in a story published Thursday, October 3. “It was more annoying because of all the things that I’ve been through.”
In June, MyKayla, 27, uploaded a since-deleted YouTube video of herself critiquing the performances at the 2024 Olympic Trials.
“I mean, obviously, a lot of girls don’t work as hard. The girls just don’t have the work ethic. A lot of girls don’t work as hard,” she said at the time, clarifying that she did not include Simone Biles in her argument. “It’s hard too because of SafeSport. Coaches can’t get on athletes which in some ways is really good but at the same time, to get to where you need to be in gymnastics you do have to be … a little aggressive, a little intense.”
Suni and MyKayla competed together at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when MyKayla filled in for Simone, 27, on vault after she took herself out of the competition due to suffering from The Twisties. MyKayla took home a silver medal for her individual vault performance.
Simone shaded MyKayla after she and fellow Team USA gymnasts Suni, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera took home the gold in the women’s gymnastics team final. The Texas native shared sweet celebratory photos with her teammate with a spicy caption.
“Lack of talent, lazy, Olympic champions,” Simone captioned the July 30 post.
Suni, one of the few teammates to comment on the post, wrote, “Put a finger down if Simone Biles just ended you,” alongside a hand emoji with all five fingers.
Simone and Jordan, 23, confirmed that McKayla blocked Simone one day after sharing the post, and MyKayla broke her silence one week later.
“I sincerely hoped that this topic wouldn’t need to be revisited, but unfortunately, things have really gotten out of hand lately,” MyKayla said via Instagram on August 6. “And it’s one thing to disagree with me regarding something I have said or a point I was trying to make, but it’s something else entirely when that turns into cyber bullying or even worse. Watching people cheer on the bullying — which has led to threats of physical harm to me, my husband and our daughter — is disgusting. So please at this point, I’m just asking for it to stop for the sake of my family because enough is enough.”
MyKayla went on to share how “heartbroken” she was that Simone may have believed she thought their teammates were “lazy” – before urging her to end the feud.
“Please ask your followers to stop. You have been an incredible champion for mental health awareness and a lot of people need your help now. We’ve been attacked in ways that I’m certain you never intended,” she continued later in the video. “Your performance, the team’s performance and the Olympics in general should be a time that we support one another.”
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