Keith Olbermann Picks the Wrong Fight with Riley Gaines and Pays the Price
Former ESPN and MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann tried to insult prolific former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines for not being able to compete against stronger and faster “trans women” and got brutalized online over it.
Olbermann went from having a chair on “SportsCenter” back when ESPN was watchable and covered sports to telling Gaines, a decorated female swimmer, that she “sucked” because she opposes naked men in women’s locker rooms and competing against them in the field of play.
What a hill to die on.
A back-and-forth between the two started on X (formerly Twitter) Wednesday night after Olbermann responded to a comment Gaines had made on another post.
Gaines took on Democratic Nebraska state Sen. Megan Hunt for advocating for the disappearance of sacred women’s spaces (which in 2023 is somehow a feminist stance).
Republican Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen established a so-called “Bill of Rights” for women into law by executive order and was succinct in his comments about it.
“It is common sense that men do not belong in women’s only spaces,” Pillen said. “As governor, it is my duty to protect our kids and women’s athletics, which means providing single-sex spaces for women’s sports, bathrooms, and changing rooms.”
Hunt lost her mind over the executive order, and Gaines rubbed salt into her wounds.
“Defining woman = ridiculous to state senator Megan Hunt,” Gaines tweeted. She included three clown emojis and asked Nebraskans to remember Hunt’s stance on the issue during her next election.
Defining woman = ridiculous to state senator Megan Hunt 🤡🤡🤡
Remember that next election, Nebraskans https://t.co/E6gfim16rv
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) August 31, 2023
A triggered Olbermann then involved himself by insulting Gaines’ athletic abilities.
“Can you just address the reality and move past it? You sucked at swimming. That’s why you lost,” the brain-dead leftist tweeted.
Can you just address the reality and move past it? You sucked at swimming. That’s why you lost.
— Keith Olbermann⌚️ (@KeithOlbermann) August 31, 2023
Gaines’ career accomplishments speak for themselves, but Olbermann was apparently referring to her tying Lia Thomas, a man, for fifth place in the women’s 200-meter NCAA championship last year.
The response ratio was brutal for Olbermann, who spends his days trolling people on social media since he can no longer get or keep high-profile jobs.
Gaines fired back at him:
Ah, makes sense now why you got fired from ESPN. https://t.co/Js2q0NMSxu
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) August 31, 2023
Apparently holding the SEC record and being one of the fastest Americans of all time in the 200 butterfly is amateur. I broke that record at that obnoxiously orange school you happen to like 😂
Thanks clay!
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) August 31, 2023
Others also piled on:
Can you just address the reality and move past it…You suck and that’s why ESPN fired you…
— A Pro Ballplayer’s Perspective (@Dputy7) August 31, 2023
Do you have any idea how BAD you look right now?
I’m just curious. Do you?
— Jennifer 🟥🔴🧙♀️🦉🐈⬛ 🦖 (@babybeginner) August 31, 2023
Sombody’s been day-drinking, hasn’t he…
— Puddle Pirate (@SafeSpacePirate) August 31, 2023
Looks like Keith is using the trans-movement as cover for his misogyny.
— 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐠 (@HarmfulOpinion) August 31, 2023
There was a time where you used to have something to say and I respected you. Those days are behind you.
— Batmantis (@BatMantisRises) August 31, 2023
This is profoundly dumb even for you, Keith. @Riley_Gaines_ was one of the best women’s collegiate swimmers in the country. She was forced to swim against a man pretending to be a woman. Do you really think men’s and women’s sports shouldn’t be separated? https://t.co/SDgTtnwk2f
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) August 31, 2023
Olbermann, as Clay Travis pointed out, was at one point a respected sportscaster.
On an August evening in 2023, the rabid leftist attacked a woman who is leading the charge in protecting women’s sports -– dying on a bizarre hill that in the height of his fame would have seemed unconscionable.
Liberalism, at its core, truly is a degenerative mental illness.
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