Daily Wire host whines about Simone Biles honoring Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade

Matt Walsh: “Simone Biles is a horrendous bigot. She is a racist, and she owes America an apology.”

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the August 8, 2024, edition of The Daily Wire's The Matt Walsh Show

MATT WALSH (HOST): There was already enough here to earn a spot in the daily cancellation. I will always object to racial double standards. I have come to expect them. I'm not shocked by them, but I still object to them. And there's certainly a massive glaring one in this case. We all know what would happen if Olympic athletes celebrated and gloated over an all-white podium. We know the reaction if the silver and bronze medal were won by white people and they bowed to the gold medalist in part to celebrate the fact that he was also white. Like, we all know how that would go. You can't claim that it'd be different because the all-white podiums are more commonplace. In many events, that's not the case at all. I don't know how long it's been since there was an all-white podium in the 100-meter race, for instance, but I'm confident that it's been a very long time. In fact, if there was an all-white podium in the 100-meter race, it would be very notable. I think it would be. But you would not be allowed to make note of it unless you were noting it in a negative way, in a disappointed way. You can lament that something is all-white, but you may never be happy that it's all-white. That's the rule, and it's a rule that I do not recognize because it's hypocritical and arbitrary.

If we would say that Olympians were racist for cheering an all-white podium, we must say the same about Olympians cheering an all-Black podium. Those are the rules, which means I'm afraid that Simone Biles is a horrendous bigot. She is a racist, and she owes America an apology. Those are the rules, and she should be expected to follow them the same way that she'd be expected to follow them if she was white.

Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in American history, spoke to People about why she and her American teammate Jordan Chiles honored their Brazilian competitor Rebeca Andrade:

For Simone Biles, there was a simple reason why she and Jordan Chiles decided to bow down to rival (and friend) Rebeca Andrade after she beat them for gold: “Sportsmanship.”

It was a move that was largely praised as women supporting women, other than a few critics. And one that was important to Biles.

"[We were] showing good sportsmanship [and] having fun out there because it was the last competition," the superstar gymnast, 27, tells PEOPLE.

The moment capped off a medal-heavy and record-breaking Olympics for Biles, who earned three gold and one silver medal during the 2024 Games. Her sole silver came against Andrade in the floor final, and it was there that Biles and Chiles, 23, bowed to the six-time Olympic medalist, 25.

That podium also held a bigger significance — it marked the first time, ever, that an Olympics podium was entirely made up of Black gymnasts, a moment that certainly was not lost on Biles.