Former First Lady Michelle Obama has thrown her support behind Olympic gymnast Simone Biles. But the context for why this happened might be confusing. Her comment comes after Marlon Humphrey, an NFL cornerback for the Baltimore Ravens, called Simone Biles “disgusting” for bowing to Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade on the podium. Here’s a breakdown of what Michelle Obama said about Simone Biles and how this relates to Humphrey at all.
What did Michelle Obama say about Simone Biles?
Michelle Obama wrote in a post on Facebook on August 6 with a picture of Simone Biles and fellow Team USA gymnast Jordan Chiles bowing to Rebeca Andrade with the following text:
“I’m still not over this beautiful moment of sisterhood and sportsmanship! You can just feel the love shining through these ladies. Congrats Rebeca, Jordan and Simone!”
For context, Rebeca Andrade won the gold medal for the floor exercise apparatus final on Monday, August 5, after Simone Biles made a few uncharacteristic errors and might have aggravated a calf injury by stepping out of bounds several times. On the flip side, Chiles won the bronze medal after submitting an inquiry to the judges, who decided to raise her score to a third-place finish. Either way, both Biles and Chiles decided to give Andrade praise on the podium as it was the Brazilian gymnast’s first gold medal.
Michelle Obama’s comment was posted a day after Marlon Humphrey criticized both Biles and Chiles on X for the gesture, which he said was “literally disgusting.” The post, seen by more than 8 million people, has been summarily lambasted by fans. Many point out that Andrade had three ACL tears before winning the gold medal and that the picture between her, Biles, and Chiles shows good sportsmanship.
Humphrey admitted in a later post on X that he was “lowkey getting cooked” by comments and was “getting cussed out in Brazilian on Instagram.” To little surprise, he was then called out for not knowing that the language Brazilians speak is Portuguese, not “Brazilian.”
