Simone Biles' shocking move after Riley Gaines drama

Simone Biles has deactivated her X account amid her public feud with Riley Gaines.

On Sunday, June 22, fans began noticing that Biles — the most decorated gymnast of all time — appeared to have deleted her X account (formerly known as Twitter) after she and Gaines continued to spar over trans women athletes in sports.

Former NCAA swimmer Gaines took a screenshot of Biles' deactivated account — "sad to see such a phenom go down like this," she wrote via her own X account — creating a list of bullet points with her take on Biles' disappearance from X:

"has an incredibly unpopular and morally indefensible take, gets rightfully ridiculed for it, issues a groveling public apology after unrelenting backlash, deletes account to pretend it never happened," Gaines wrote.

Simone Biles' X account has been deleted as of June 23, 2025, amid her feud with Riley Gaines. | Simone Biles/X

The athletes' back-and-forth began earlier this month, when Gaines — a former University of Kentucky swimmer and an outspoken conservative — shared a transphobic Instagram message about a trans woman athlete on her own X account.

At the time, she commented on Champlin Park High School winning the 2025 Class AAAA softball state championship. “Comments off lol…To be expected when your star player is a boy," Gaines wrote, referring to the trans female athlete on the team.

Biles, for her part, not only addressed the transphobic comment, but she also claimed that Gaines was lashing out because of her own swimming loss against trans female athlete Lia Thomas.

“You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race,” the Olympian claimed on X at hte time. “Straight up sore loser. You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!!”

Biles continued: “But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!”

The athletes' feud only escalated from there, with Gaines calling Biles' words "so disappointing."

"It's not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces," Gaines hit back. "You can uplift men stealing championships in women's sports with YOUR platform. Men don't belong in women's sports and I say that with my full chest.”

After Biles' strong reaction to Gaines' retort — in part, the 7-time Olympian, who is 4'9, told the former swimmer (who is 5'5) to "bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male" — Gaines called out Biles for "body shaming" her, which Biles then apologized for.

As the month of June wore on, so did their feud, with other athletes (including Biles' husband Jonathan Owens and her former Olympic teammate McKayla Skinner) each taking sides. Gaines even announced her pregnancy by referring to Biles' jab: “The funniest thing about this to me in her saying, ‘Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a man. How many men do you know that have this?” she asked in a social media post, gesturing to her baby bump.

— Enjoy free dish of rich and fabulous players with The Athlete Lifestyle on SI —

Bittersweet: Vanessa Bryant shares tear-jerking photo of Kobe, Gigi, on special day

Speaking of: Natalia Bryant flashes perfect smile with mom Vanessa, tiny dog in NYC

Uh oh: Lakers hater Bill Simmons compares NBA MVP SGA to Kobe Bryant

Plus won: Livvy Dunne rocks unreal Paul Skenes LSU-Pirates custom combo jersey

Grooving: UConn Star Azzi Fudd does perfect coordinated dance with new teammate