Keith Olbermann fumed after saying Riley Gaines was ‘bad at swimming’: ‘Nasty, ignorant man’
Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann in a post urged former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines to acknowledge that she’s a terrible athlete, prompting backlash on social media.
“Can you just face reality and get over it?” Olbermann wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “You were bad at swimming. That’s why you lost.”
Gaines is known to be closely associated with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, a biological male and former member of the University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team.
Olbermann was responding to a contribution by Gaines in defense of a “women’s rights charter” positing that “males and females possess unchanging biological differences.”
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen is reportedly the second governor in America to introduce the Women’s Bill of Rights on Wednesday, telling voters that it’s “common sense that men don’t get into the women’s sphere.” belong”.
A former MSNBC and ESPN anchor, Olbermann was widely criticized by former teammates and political commentators for mocking Gaines’ athletic ability. Gaines himself cheered Olbermann on for his comments.
“Ah makes sense now why you got fired from ESPN,” she wrote.
“Your political bias blinds you, and dismissive views like yours encourage men to change before we do,” Paula Scanlan, a former University of Pennsylvania swimmer, told Olbermann. “Why don’t you address the reality that the spaces are being invaded by women and a lot of women are being harmed by this narrative.”
Scanlan, who was on the same team as Thomas, has become a leading advocate for women’s sports after she said she was forced to undress in front of Thomas in the locker rooms at the University of Pennsylvania.
Professor Emeritus Colin Wight shared a link to Gaine’s swimming resume, which includes an SEC award for Student and Athlete of the Year, an All America in 200 free award in 2022, and even a 2022 Olympic Trial Qualification contained 2021.
“Reality is staring you in the face,” Wight told Olbermann. “And you are a wicked, ignorant man. I sucked at swimming.”
Washington Examiner staffer Kimberly Ross called Olbermann “sexist” for his attacks on Gaines.
“I’m sorry?” She wrote. “Your testimony should be directed at a guy named Lia Thomas. He sucks so much at swimming against biological males that he decided to identify as a woman just to win. How sexist and sad. Both you and ‘Lia’.”
Scanlan recently testified before a House Judiciary Subcommittee that the #MeToo movement, which once “gave female victims an opportunity to speak out about abuse,” has changed fundamentally, she said.
In an editorial for the Telegraph, she also argued that the #MeToo movement “like, unfortunately, many other women’s organizations in the United States, was taken over by the Democratic Party.”
Scanlan noted that she was forced to “relive the trauma of” “. [her] “Sexual assault by undressing before” Thomas, but sexual assault by transgender women has apparently been neglected by the “women’s organizations.”
Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
