Texas official apologizes for calling Simone Biles a "national embarrassment"
CBSN
Austin, Texas — Texas Deputy Attorney General Aaron Reitz is apologizing to Simone Biles for calling the Olympic champion a "national embarrassment," CBS Houston affiliate KHOU-TV reports.
The superstar gymnast, who lives in Spring, just north of Houston, has pulled out of two competitions in the Tokyo Games, saying she needs to focus on her mental health. It's still not clear if she'll participate in next week's individual events. In a now-deleted tweet, Reitz quote-tweeted video from Kerri Strug's 1996 Olympic performance on an injured ankle then said, "Contrast this with our selfish, childish national embarrassment, Simone Biles."Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.