Olympics: Simone Biles' parents receive apology from NBC's Al Trautwig

Image
Photo: Julio Cortez/AP

Another day, another Olympics commentator rolling back his comments.

NBC’s gymnastics announcer, Al Trautwig, apologized on Monday for the way in which he described Simone Biles’ parents, both on Twitter and on-air.

“I regret that I wasn’t more clear in my wording on the air,” he said in a statement. “I compounded the error on Twitter, which I quickly corrected. To set the record straight, Ron and Nellie are Simone’s parents.”

Ron Biles, the gymnast’s maternal grandfather, and his wife, Nellie Biles, adopted Simone and her sister, Adria, more than 15 years ago after they’d spent time in foster care. Simone refers to Nellie and Ron as “mom and dad.”

“Hey @AlTrautwig stop calling her PARENTS her grandfather and his wife. A. Nelly is more important than ‘his wife B. THEY ARE HER PARENTS,” one viewer tweeted, to which Trautwig replied (and has since deleted), “They may be mom and dad but they are NOT her parents.”

Biles’ coach, Aimee Boorman, also responded.

“We became aware of the situation Sunday night and addressed it with Al quickly,” an NBC Sports spokesperson said in a statement to EW.

Related Articles