Is Gabby Douglas a victim shamer? Here's why 'The Masked Dancer' winner was called out by Simone Biles in 2017
Gabby Douglas was announced as the winner of the very first season of 'The Masked Dancer' after which she lifted the diamond mask trophy. She defeated two of her opponents — the Sloth, who was unmasked and revealed as 'Dancing with the Stars' pro-dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy, and the Tulip, who was unmasked and revealed as Mackenzie Ziegler — to emerge winner.
Tulip ended up in the third position while the end battle was between the Sloth and Cotton Candy that she emerged victorious from. Along with the contestants, it was also a battle between the judges as to who gets the most correct guesses this season and it was none other than Paula Abdul who won the bets.
She was the one who figured it was former Olympian, Gabby Douglas, under the mask while Ashley Tisdale guessed Simone Biles, Brian Austin Greene said he felt the Cotton Candy was Tara Lapinski and Ken Jeong thought it was Michelle Kwan under the pastel-colored mask.
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The Cotton Candy had sealed her fate as the winner after she fell from a huge height while being suspended from a Lyra during the rehearsals before her debut performance on the show. Since then she been consistent and kept delivering winner performances week after week up until the finale after which she won the show.
Gabby is a former Olympian gold and silver medalist. She was among the main gymnasts who represented America at the prestigious event however Gabby once drew flak for her "victim shaming" comments and calling her out for it was none other than Simone Biles.
Aly Raisman, a retired gymnast, was the captain of the US Women's Olympic Gynmast's team at the London and Rio games where she and Gabby won gold for the team as well as individual medals.
In November 2017, Raisman had opened up about being sexually abused by longtime USA gymnastics doctor Lawrence G Nassar. She posted a message in the form of a note typed on her phone where she spoke about victims being shamed for their experiences with sexual assault on her Instagram page.
“Just because a woman does a sexy photoshoot or wears a sexy outfit does not give a man the right to shame her or not believe her when she comes forward about sexual abuse,” the then 23-year-old Raisman wrote. “What is wrong with some of you? AND when a woman dresses sexy it does not give a man the right to sexually abuse her EVER.”
The well-decorated athlete continued, “Women are allowed to feel sexy and comfortable in their own skin, in fact, I encourage you all to wear what you feel good in. I will not put up with any woman or girl being shamed for wanting to wear a skirt, dress, etc. I do not tolerate it. Are we clear? Oh and one more thing. STOP VICTIM SHAMING. It is because of you that so many survivors live in fear.”
Douglas decided to respond to Raisman's experience with a tone-deaf statement that she was forced to delete later. “However it is our responsibility as women to dress modestly and be classy. Dressing in a provocative/sexual way entices the wrong crowd," she had written in the since-deleted tweet for which she later received opposition from Simone Biles who won team gold alongside Douglas at the Rio Games, according to an article by the Guardian.
"Shocks me that I’m seeing this but it doesn’t surprise me... honestly seeing this brings me to tears bc as your teammate I expected more from you & to support her. I support you Aly & all the other women out there! STAY STRONG," she tweeted attaching a screenshot of Douglas's deleted tweet. Douglas was quick to realize her flaw and responded back stating, "I didn’t correctly word my reply & I am deeply sorry for coming off like i don’t stand alongside my teammates."
shocks me that I’m seeing this but it doesn’t surprise me... honestly seeing this brings me to tears bc as your teammate I expected more from you & to support her. I support you Aly 💕 & all the other women out there!
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) November 17, 2017
STAY STRONG pic.twitter.com/CccTzhyPcb
i didn’t correctly word my reply & i am deeply sorry for coming off like i don’t stand alongside my teammates. regardless of what you wear, abuse under any circumstance is never acceptable. i am WITH you. #metoo
— Gabby Douglas (@gabrielledoug) November 18, 2017