Olympic gymnastics champion Simone Biles entered the fray of the U.S. presidential race on August 2 with a social media post that appeared to clap back at former President Donald Trump’s comment about “Black jobs.”
“I love my black job,” Biles posted on X, in response to a post from singer Ricky Davila, who had said: “Iconic photo of the GOAT mastering her black job and collecting Gold Medals.”
The exchange came hours after Biles held off Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade to win the all-around Paris Olympics gymnastics finals, taking home her ninth gold medal. At 27, she is the oldest Olympic women’s gymnastics champ since 1952.
She is the most decorated gymnast of all time, having won two gold medals so far in the 2024 Paris Olympics – bringing her lifetime Olympic gold medal count to nine. Six of the medals are gold.
Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee and criminally convicted of 34 felonies, has been criticized for arguing during his June debate with Democratic President Joe Biden that migrants are taking “Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs” from Americans.
The strategically racist remark by Trump angered critics, who called it a racist and insulting attempt to expand his appeal beyond his white conservative base.
When pushed by moderators on what constituted a “Black job,” Trump told attendees at the National Association of Black Journalists conference that “a Black job is anybody that has a job,” drawing groans from the room.
Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, has been critical of Biles before. During a 2021 Fox News Channel appearance, following Biles’ withdrawal from that year’s Olympics competition to protect her own safety in Tokyo — a self-removal that prompted an international discussion about mental health — Vance questioned why the athlete didn’t push forward.
“I think it reflects pretty poorly on our sort of therapeutic society that we try to praise people, not for moments of strength, not for moments of heroism, but for their weakest moments,” Vance, who was then running for his Senate seat, said at the time.
Trump’s campaign did not immediately return a message seeking comment on what Biles posted. Biles’ representatives also did not immediately return messages seeking further comment on her post or her thoughts generally about the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
