“Comments like this have me shook.”
It’s hard to imagine what someone would have against champion gymnast Simone Biles, but as many people know — celebrities especially — criticism on social media doesn’t necessarily adhere to logic or reason. Trolls are going to troll. But when a petty online commenter came for her recently, Biles showed the best way to clapback at a hater is with cool, calm logic.
While the Olympic icon was on vacation in Hawaii, she posted this pretty innocuous photo of her relaxing in paradise:
Then some troll had the white hot nerve to post this comment in response:
Biles fired back with this simple and measured message:
Not that Biles needs any help from us here — she seems to be on top of the situation — but give her a break. It has been less than a year since she won four golds and a bronze at the Rio Games, and in that time, she competed on “Dancing With the Stars” and has told people she plans to get back to full-on training in the winter. It’s not the worst idea for her to take some time away from the sport if she doesn’t want to be burned out by the time the Tokyo Olympics roll around in 2020.
Recently, we saw golfer Rory McIlroy sign off of social media indefinitely, claiming the destructive impact it has far outweighs any benefits. It’s clear that Biles can’t personally respond to every throwaway comment that appears on her Instagram feed, but she got her point across to at least one misguided user.