{"id":1954385,"date":"2023-06-22T16:07:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T20:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/riley-gaines-blows-up-claims-she-used-lia-thomas-tie-to-boost-media-career\/"},"modified":"2023-06-22T16:07:59","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T20:07:59","slug":"riley-gaines-blows-up-claims-she-used-lia-thomas-tie-to-boost-media-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/riley-gaines-blows-up-claims-she-used-lia-thomas-tie-to-boost-media-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Riley Gaines denies exploiting Lia Thomas connection for media success."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Friley-gaines-blows-up-claims-she-used-lia-thomas-tie-to-boost-media-career%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1954385&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Former NCAA Champion Swimmer Riley Gaines Responds to Hit Piece<\/h2>\n<p>Former NCAA champion swimmer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/riley-gaines-blows-up-democrat-witness-testimony-during-trans-rights-hearing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Riley Gaines<\/a> has fired back at a hit piece accusing her of leveraging her 5th-place tie with trans-identifying swimmer Lia Thomas to launch a career in right-wing media.<\/p>\n<p>The article, written by Alyssa Tirrell at left-wing outlet Media Matters for America, claimed that Gaines had traded her fifth-place finish in the 200-meter freestyle at the 2022 NCAA championships for a platform in conservative media.<\/p>\n<p>MMfA\u2019s Ari Drennan shared the article on Twitter, stating, \u201cRiley Gaines has turned a fifth-place tie with Lia Thomas into a lucrative career in the right-wing media.\u201d The headline echoed the same sentiment: \u201cOver a year after her last race against Lia Thomas, Riley Gaines has built a media career on the trans swimmer\u2019s name.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Riley Gaines has turned a fifth-place tie with Lia Thomas into a lucrative career in the right-wing media<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5oSAXmHGua\">https:\/\/t.co\/5oSAXmHGua<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ari Drennen (@AriDrennen) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AriDrennen\/status\/1671608932320649227?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 21, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In the subsequent article, however, Tirrell seemed to suggest that 29 appearances and two hours and 38 minutes of airtime constituted a \u201cmedia career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The piece went on to criticize Gaines for discussing broader issues instead of solely focusing on her race against Thomas. These issues included the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/riley-gaines-blows-up-claims-she-used-lia-thomas-tie-to-boost-media-career\/\" title=\"Riley Gaines denies exploiting Lia Thomas connection for media success.\">athletic advantages biological males<\/a> have over females in sports and the potential trauma that could arise from allowing men into locker rooms with biological females, especially young girls.<\/p>\n<p>But Gaines, in an interview with The Daily Wire, made it clear that she has no intention of pursuing a media career. Nevertheless, critics like MMfA will have to get used to seeing her around.<\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-9096\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1687352286746000&#038;usg=AOvVaw2XxW0VTdKx-2nQAhkiTR8M\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI finished fifth in the entire country. Is the fifth best NBA player considered elite? Of course. The critics making these claims have never been elite athletes or placed fifth in the country in any endeavor, so I don\u2019t expect them to understand what that actually means,\u201d Gaines stated. \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t matter. It wouldn\u2019t matter if I won an Olympic gold medal or if I were the slowest swimmer in the country. Your level of competitiveness doesn&#8217;t determine your entitlement to equal opportunity, safety, and privacy. Every young girl and woman deserves these rights, regardless of their athletic abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not fighting this for personal reasons. This is never a battle I wanted or felt prepared for,\u201d Gaines continued. \u201cAnd I\u2019m done competing. I\u2019m not doing this for myself. I\u2019m fighting for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gwinn-lia-jussie-thomas-is-americas-biggest-cheater-hoaxster-and-fraud\/\" title=\"GWINN: Lia 'Jussie' Thomas Is America's Biggest Cheater, Hoaxster, and Fraud\">past female athletes<\/a> who fought tirelessly for Title IX, which allowed me to benefit as I did. I\u2019m fighting for the current female athletes whose voices are effectively silenced by their universities and the media. I\u2019m fighting for the next generation of female athletes who don\u2019t yet have a voice and don\u2019t yet understand the implications of what this means for their opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gaines also mentioned that she would gladly return to her original plan for her life, which was to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-tragic-death-of-womens-sports\/\" title=\"The Tragic Death Of Women\u2019s Sports\">attend dental school<\/a> and become an endodontist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t see that happening anytime soon. So I\u2019m sorry, but my critics will have to get used to seeing my face and hearing my voice,\u201d she declared. \u201cThis is a battle I won\u2019t give up on because I see what\u2019s at stake if we do. Make no mistake, this is bigger than just fairness in women\u2019s sports. They want to control how you feel, what you think, and what you say. Not on my watch.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former NCAA champion swimmer Riley Gaines addressed allegations of using her 5th-place tie with trans-identifying swimmer Lia Thomas to boost a right-wing media career. The accusations were made in a piece by Alyssa Tirrell from left-wing outlet Media Matters for America. Gaines denied the claims, dismissing them as unfounded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":1954386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1954385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1954385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1954386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1954385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1954385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1954385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}