Simone Biles of america celebrates after performing a ground train throughout the girls’s creative gymnastics all-around closing on the Bercy Enviornment on the 2024 Summer season Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Paris, France. | Picture credit score: AP
Olympic gymnastics champion Simone Biles entered the US presidential race on Friday with a put up that appeared to answer former President Donald Trump’s remark about “black jobs.”
“I like my black work,” Biles posted on X, in response to a put up by singer Ricky Davila, who had stated: “Iconic photograph of the GOAT mastering her black work and amassing gold medals.”
The trade got here hours after Biles defeated Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade to win the gymnastics closing on the Paris Olympics, taking dwelling her ninth gold medal. At 27, she is the oldest feminine gymnast since 1952.
Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, has come below hearth for arguing throughout his June debate with Democratic President Joe Biden that immigrants are taking “black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs” away from People. Trump’s remark infuriated critics, who known as it a racist and insulting try and broaden his attraction past his white conservative base.
When pressed by moderators on what constitutes a “black job,” Trump advised attendees at this week’s Nationwide Affiliation of Black Journalists convention that “a black job is anyone who has a job,” prompting groans within the room.
Trump’s working mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, has criticized Biles prior to now. Throughout an look on Fox Information in 2021, following Biles’ withdrawal from that yr’s Olympic competitors to guard her personal security in Tokyo (a choice that sparked a global debate about psychological well being), Vance questioned why the athlete didn’t proceed ahead.
“I feel it is a poor reflection on our therapeutic society that we attempt to reward folks, not for his or her moments of power, not for his or her moments of heroism, however for his or her moments of best weak point,” stated Vance, who was working for his Senate seat on the time.
The Trump marketing campaign didn’t instantly reply to a message searching for touch upon Biles’ put up. Representatives for Biles additionally didn’t instantly reply to messages searching for additional touch upon her put up or her views extra broadly on the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
