Former MSNBC and ESPN host Keith Olbermann acquired right into a confrontation with Riley Gaines Thursday, saying the two-time All-SEC first-teamer “sucked at swimming.”
Cooler heads prevailed, however Olbermann took one final jab on the former school swimmer when the New York Submit shared the story of their social media spat.
Within the remaining barb, Olbermann known as Gaines a “homophobe” for her combat to maintain transgender ladies out of feminine sports activities.
Gaines hosts the “Gaines for Ladies” podcast on OutKick, highlighting the problem.
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Keith Olbermann arrives to the “Late Present with David Letterman” at Ed Sullivan Theater Sept. 11, 2013, in New York Metropolis. (Jeffrey Ufberg/WireImage)
“Second crew all-conference. Fortunately for nasty, silly, unsuccessful transphobe @Riley_Gaines she has no status to break,” he posted on X, the social media platform previously often called Twitter.
Gaines was a second-team swimmer in 2019 and 2020 earlier than incomes first-team honors her remaining two years on the College of Kentucky.
Gaines’ collegiate resume speaks for itself, however she felt the necessity to remind Olbermann of her swimming accomplishments anyway.
In a video responding to Olbermann’s put up, she recorded herself showing off her trophies for a number of of her accolades, together with All-SEC first-team, three SEC titles, a second-place end nationally, an SEC neighborhood service award, an SEC feminine scholar-athlete of the 12 months and others. She additionally certified for the U.S. trials for the Tokyo Olympics.
TV character Keith Olbermann speaks onstage through the Olbermann panel on the ESPN portion of the 2013 Summer time Tv Critics Affiliation tour on the Beverly Hilton Lodge July 24, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Pictures)
LIA THOMAS’ FORMER TEAMMATE SAYS ‘TRANS RIGHTS’ HAVE BEEN PRIORITIZED OVER ‘CONCERNS OF WOMEN’
The feud started when Olbermann replied to one in every of Gaines’ X posts through which he mentioned Gaines ought to “handle the fact” that she “sucked at swimming,” and “that is why [she] misplaced” to Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer who was topped a Division I champion in 2022.
“Ah, is smart now why you bought fired from ESPN,” Gaines shot again.
One among Thomas’ former teammates at Penn, Paula Scanlan, got here to Gaines’ protection.
“Your political bias blinds you and dismissive views like yours embolden males to vary in entrance of us,” Scanlan mentioned. “Why don’t you handle the fact that ladies’s areas are being invaded and many ladies are harmed by this narrative.”
Riley Gaines speaks earlier than Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a presidential candidate, on the Greenville Conference Heart June 2, 2023. (McKenzie Lange/Employees/USA At the moment Community)
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Scanlan argued in an op-ed for The Telegraph that the #MeToo motion “was absorbed, as so sadly has been the case with many different ladies’s organizations within the U.S., into the Democratic Occasion.”
Scanlan wrote she was compelled to “relive” the “trauma of [her] sexual assault by undressing in entrance of” Thomas, however sexual assault by transgender ladies has seemingly been ignored by “ladies’s organizations.”
Fox Information’ Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report.
