A faction of Simone Biles fans are continuing to take aim at her husband, Jonathan Owens, days after the NFL star sparked outrage by saying he had no idea who the gymnast was when she first met him.
Biles, who is the most decorated gymnast in history and widely considered the greatest of all time, is married to Green Bay Packers safety Jonathan Owens. The pair started dating in 2020 after they met on the celebrity dating app Raya. They tied the knot in March of this year.
On a recent appearance on The Pivot Podcast, Owens revealed he had never paid attention to gymnastics, and when Biles made the first move on the dating app they were using, he had never heard of the four-time Olympic gold medalist before.
When host Ryan Clark asked Owens if he considered himself “the catch” in their relationship, Owens quickly responded: “I always say that the men are the catch.” He also said that he had been “afraid to commit.”
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“Literally had been on the app for a couple of days, man, and it’s like she pops up and, I’m like ‘Let me see who this is.’ I had never really paid attention to gymnastics, so it piqued my curiosity,” Owens said during the interview.
“I go do my workout, and I come back and I had some likes on my Instagram. I still waited and then I come back to my phone, and then she messaged me on the app like, ‘Hey.'”
He added: “I didn’t know who she was at the time, but the first thing that I saw was that she just had a bunch of followers so in my mind, I’m like, ‘OK, she got to be good.'”
Explaining how he had never heard of Biles, Owens said that when she was collecting medals at the Rio Olympics in 2016, he didn’t have access to the networks that aired the games.
“When she won the Olympics, I was in college and we didn’t have NBC, we didn’t have Olympics channels and we’re in camp,” he said. “So I’m not paying attention to, I never would have had a moment to where I would have watched.”
The backlash came thick and fast for Owens in recent days, as fans compared their levels of fame, and others accused the football player of misogyny. And, it appears, the fans remain furious.
Biles took to Instagram on December 25 to share a trio of romantic photos that showed her celebrating Christmas Day with Owens. Wearing matching pajamas, the two were shown kissing in front of a white Christmas tree in one image, while another showed them sharing festive drinks.
“MERRY CHRISTMAS,” Biles wrote, to which Owens responded in the comments section: “First married Christmas,” along with two red heart emojis. Owens also shared similar photos on his Instagram account.
Taking aim at Owens over his recent comments, one Instagram user said: “Look, it’s the most decorated US gymnast in US Olympic history! And her… catch?”
“Merry Christmas to Simone Biles and Simone Biles’ husband who I never heard of until he married Simone Biles [because] NFL is only a thing in America but the whole world knows Olympians,” commented another.
“Not sure who that man is, but I do recognize the legendary Simone Biles!” another chimed in. “Merry Christmas to you girl!”
“Here is the most known and respected athlete in US… and there is her husband by her side,” commented another.
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“She is a role model for young girls,” another said of Biles before criticizing Owens. “Maybe he should apologize for sounding like such a misogynist.”
While there were many Instagram users who targeted Owens, several others spoke out in defense of the couple.
“Y’all really think these comments on her husband make her smile?” asked one. “You’re not doing anyone a favor with the negativity.”
“Imagine being so miserable in life that you find joy in trying to destroy a happy marriage,” said another. “My gawd aren’t y’all embarrassed? Merry Christmas Simone and Jonathan.”
“It’s unbelievable how people can come on another person’s post and say ugly things,” another opined.
Another challenged whether those attacking Owens are even fans of Biles, while also advising the couple to take a break from social media.
“I’m starting to think a lot of these commenters are really jealous and haters of Simone because how do you justify spewing venom toward someone your idol loves?” they said. “I watched the entire podcast and what I learned most is that your husband is resilient, reflective, humble, and smart.
“The other 2 minutes about your relationship was lighthearted-playful banter between men. Keep supporting each other and please take some time off this destructive force called social media. You have another BIG MOMEMENT to prepare for. If these haters really cared, they would be all about trying to uplift and protect your mental health, not destroy it. Enjoy this holiday season with your hubby.”
Both Biles and Owens appeared to laugh off the backlash. “Unbothered,” Owens wrote in a December 22 Instagram post that included a series of photos of the couple. “Just know we locked in over here.”
In an X post that showed a young child scratching their head, Biles wrote on December 23: “Are y’all done yet?”
Elsewhere in his interview, Owens said the first moment he realized how famous Biles is, was when people were left starstruck by the Olympian when the couple were out getting ice cream.
He explained: “It was all these moms and they’re there with their kids and we walked past and everybody stopped and just [stared]. Kids were just shaking, like, ‘Oh, my God.'”
Owens was drafted into the NFL in 2018 and met Biles two years into his pro career. This year, Owens proposed to Biles on Valentine’s Day. After marrying in a private city hall ceremony in Texas in April, Biles and Owens tied the knot for a second time in Mexico in May in an intimate ceremony with 144 guests.
This is Owens’ first season with Green Bay after spending the last four seasons with the Houston Texans.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.