Last Saturday, USA Gymnastics announced that it was appointing Mary Bono as its Interim President and Chief Executive Officer. Presumably, USA Gymnastics wanted to hire somebody that would be a good face for the sport in the wake of thousands upon thousands of sexual harassment cases levied over the past few years against USA Gymnastics’ head coaches by their minor athletes.
So it was only fitting that Simone Biles took to Twitter to remind the world of where Bono’s head was at just a few months ago, after Nike announced that Colin Kaepernick would be the face of it’s new ad campaign.
Then, Bono did what most people do in this day-and-age when their past starts creeping up on them and they don’t want it to: deleted her tweets. In a statement, Bono provided:
I deeply regret posting the tweet because I respect everyone’s views & their fundamental right to express them. This in no way reflects how I will approach my position at U.S.A. Gymnastics. I will do everything I can to help change the culture and to work with the entire community to build an open, safe and positive environment.
Weird that Bono wants to help “change the culture” and “build an open and safe community”, yet also isn’t too keen on African Americans protesting against police brutality. Flip the pages to see Simone Biles’s Tweets; Mary Bono’s deleted Tweet about Colin Kaepernick; and Mary Bono’s since-apology.
*UPDATE*
She’s been fired.
Mary Bono is OUT as @USAGym interim president and CEO. In exit stmt, she defends her tweet marking out @Nike logo on her sneakers: “With respect to Mr. Kaepernick, he nationally exercised his first amendment right to kneel. I exercised mine” pic.twitter.com/qS0uaGdXyl
— Sarah Boxer (@Sarah_Boxer) October 16, 2018