Olympic gymnast Simone Biles took an apparent dig at former President Donald Trump in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday, tweeting, “I love my black job”—a reference to Trump comments earlier in the week for which he was criticized—after winning two gold medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Simone Biles, of the United States, celebrates after winning the gold medal during the women's ... [+]
Biles made the comment while quote-tweeting a post that called her “the GOAT” and said “winning Gold medals and dominating gymnastics is her black job.”
It’s an apparent reference to Trump’s repeated use of “black jobs” as a term, and one he was pressed on at the National Association of Black Journalists earlier this week when ABC’s Rachel Scott asked the former president to define the term.
At the conference of Black journalists, Trump repeated his claim that immigrants are coming into the U.S. and “taking Black jobs,” and when asked what a Black job is, Trump simply said “a Black job is anybody that has a job.”
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14.3 million. That’s how many views Biles tweet had in the first six hours since she posted it Friday morning at around 4 a.m. EDT.
This wasn’t the first time Trump—who has also repeatedly claimed to be the “best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln”—had discussed the concept of “Black jobs.” In his June 27 debate against President Joe Biden, Trump said: “the fact is that his big kill on the Black people is the millions of people that he’s allowed to come in through the border. They’re taking Black jobs now … They’re taking Black jobs and they’re taking Hispanic jobs.” His use of the phrase immediately drew criticism and led people to question what he meant as a Black job. In a statement after the debate, Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, said “there is no such thing as a ‘Black job’ (as) Black Americans excel across industries and professions.” Biden responded to the remark the following day, as well, saying “I know what a Black job is: it’s the vice-president of the United States.”
Trump also commented on presumptive Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris’ race in his remarks at NABJ, questioning whether she is Black. Harris has identified as Black throughout her career.
Biles has been celebrating her most recent Olympic wins—a gold medal in the women’s team final Tuesday and a gold medal in the individual all-around contest Thursday—that made her the most decorated U.S. gymnast of all time with nine medals, six of which are gold.
Biles, who has made a triumphant return to the Olympics after withdrawing from most events due to mental health struggles in 2021, has not been holding her tongue this Olympic games. Earlier this week, after Team USA won the gold in the team final, she posted a picture with her teammates on Instagram with the caption: “Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions ❤️????????????.” The caption appeared to be in direct response to Biles’ former Olympic teammate, MyKayla Skinner, who said in a YouTube video she has since deleted that she didn’t feel this year’s team was as good as past teams, saying that other than Biles, “a lot of girls don't work as hard, the girls just don't have the work ethic.”