News/Commentary

Riley Gaines lays waste to wacky Keith Olbermann: ‘Lia Thomas isn’t going to date you dude’

August 18, 2024 | | Print Article

Rekindling a feud saw Keith Olbermann on the wrong side of a ratio after Riley Gaines invoked Lia Thomas to put him in his place.

Sparing a rant, for now, the former MSNBC commentator managed to wrangle over 2 million views by simultaneously expressing concern about monkeypox and taking a swipe at the champion athlete turned defender of women’s rights.

The former NCAA swimmer had reacted to the timing of a report about the World Health Organization’s declaration deeming the virus a public health emergency when she said, “In other words, there’s an election coming up.”

Unbidden, Olbermann replied to Gaines’ post, “Oh hush, third rate athlete. The adults are dealing with an actual problem, not your paranoia.”

It was then that the Outkick host garnered tenfold support to the oft-raging commentator as she harkened back to the beginning of his gripe with her and asserted, “Keith, Lia Thomas isn’t going to date you dude.”

The callback referenced an Aug. 2023 effort by Olbermann targeting Gaines whom he contended on X “sucked at swimming” in response to her defending a “Women’s Bill of Rights.”

“Can you just address the reality and move past it?” he wondered.

The reality was that in March 2022, Thomas, a biological male permitted to compete in the Women’s NCAA Division I championship had gone on to finish first in the 500-yard freestyle before going on to be nominated for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year award. Gaines’ willingness to speak out against gender ideologues had included congressional testimony after a speaking event at San Francisco State University had resulted in protesters forcing her to shelter in an office that she described as a “prison” for hours.

Olbermann had gone on to caption a rant at the time, “Second team all-conference. Happily for nasty, stupid, unsuccessful transphobe @Riley_Gaines_ she has no reputation to ruin,” prompting Gaines to fire back with a video showing off her trophies and awards that included SEC female scholar-athlete of the year, three SEC titles and All-SEC first-team.

She later went on to note on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” “I very proudly finished my career as a 12-time All-American, a five-time SEC champion, the SEC record holder, SEC scholar-athlete of the year, SEC community services leader of the year — I can keep going on — and it’s like, this senile old man wants to attack me? He still lives with his mom in her basement. I had to ask my dad, ‘Who is this guy?’ I don’t even know who he is.”

Not done with decimating the commentator, she took another shot as others sounded off with digs of their own, “If you think I’m a third-rate athlete, what does that make Lia Thomas ranking 462nd in his rightful category lollll.”

Kevin Haggerty
Latest posts by Kevin Haggerty (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles