Simone Biles dings Trump with ‘I love my Black job’ tweet
REUTERS/PAUL CHILDS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Gold medallist Simone Biles of the United States celebrates on the podium during the women’s Paris 2024 Olympics all-around victory ceremony at Bercy Arena in Paris, France on Thursday.
Stay updated on Hawaii and national elections coverageGymnast Simone Biles dinged former President Trump today by tweeting “I love my Black job” after her latest Olympic gold medal win.
Taking a victory lap after her winning performance at the Paris Games, Biles trolled Trump for his controversial claims that undocumented immigrants are taking so-called “Black jobs” from Americans.
The world champion was amplifying a post by singer/songwriter Ricky Davila that praised Biles as the greatest of all time.
“Iconic photo of the GOAT mastering her black job and collecting gold medals,” Davila tweeted.
Biles won the all-around gold medal on Thursday, her second of the Paris Games. It raised her career haul to nine gold medals, and she could add even more honors with three more finals looming in coming days.
The wins amount to a remarkable comeback after Biles withdrew from the last Olympics to focus on her mental health.
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Her tweet amounts to a rebuke of Trump who has refused to back down from controversial remarks about “Black jobs” at his recent debate with President Biden.
Trump doubled down on the comment Wednesday during a forum with reporters at the National Association of Black Journalists in which he also falsely claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris only recently “became Black.”
“A Black job is anybody that has a job,” Trump said at the NABJ event, drawing derisive groans from the crowd.
The spat with Trump isn’t the first tangle between Biles and his right-wing supporters.
Biles’ 2021 decision to withdraw from competition sparked an unusual backlash from Trump’s MAGA allies who suggested she should suck it up and compete regardless of her health concerns.
One of them was Trump’s vice presidential running mate JD Vance, who denounced Americans for supporting Biles’ difficult decision at the time.
“I think it reflects pretty poorly on our … society that we try to praise people, not for moments of strength, not for moments of heroism, but for their weakest moments,” said Vance, who was launching an ultimately successful run for U.S. Senate.
Democrats seized on the remarks this week to take shots at Vance, who has stumbled badly in his debut on the national stage with comments deriding Americans who don’t have children.
“The audacity of JD Vance to go after the GOAT Simone_Biles as if he isn’t the most unpopular V.P. pick in decades,” tweeted Aida Ross, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee.
