U.S. Olympic bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor on Thursday defended teammate Lauren Gibbs for deleting a selfie of Gibbs and Ivanka Trump at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics after she received an “overwhelming” amount of online abuse because of the post.
“I was tagged in a lot of those tweets too, and it was overwhelming,” Meyers Taylor told People magazine of Gibbs, with whom she won a silver medal.
“For us, it was an opportunity to go and meet the president’s daughter and share our experience and share bobsled. We both took it as an honor and privilege,” Meyers Taylor continued.
Meyers Taylor added that while she and Gibbs “may not agree” with all of the Trump administration’s policies, they “respect the president’s daughter.”
On Tuesday, Gibbs deleted the photo from social media because she was “tired of reading the hate being thrown back and forth.”
“Whether you hate me for posting or hate me for taking it down… you are the same… hate from either side is hate… #samesame,” Gibbs tweeted.
I deleted (by choice) the photo because I was tired of reading the hate being thrown back and forth. Whether you hate me for posting or hate me for taking it down… you are the same… hate from either side is hate… #samesame https://t.co/nXXF5no5Yl via @BreitbartNews
— Lauren Gibbs (@lagibbs84) February 27, 2018
Trump led the U.S. delegation at the sporting event’s closing ceremony.
Her appearance at the games were mocked by some American athletes, including openly gay Olympic freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy.
