Jalen Rose Destroys Simone Biles Critics: ‘75 Percent of Those People Think January 6th at the Capitol was a Picnic’

Simone Biles is set to make her Olympic return Tuesday on the beam final, but not before the media spent the last week split over her need to take a mental health break.

Biles expressed a fear of competing while her mind and body are out of sync, but a chunk of the media still labeled the star gymnast as mentally weak, questioning her toughness and loyalty as a teammate. ESPN personality and former NBA star Jalen Rose joined The Breakfast Club radio show Monday morning and addressed the criticism being thrown at Biles.

“So a lot of those people and about 75 percent of those people think January 6th at the capital was a picnic,” Rose told hosts DJ Envy, Angela Yee, and Charlamagne tha God. “A lot of those people there’s nothing I can say into this mic for 450 years that’s gonna even compute to them that we’re more than athletes, we’re more than jocks, we’re not going to shut up and dribble.”

Some of “those people” have pushed the narrative that elite male athletes such as LeBron James or Tom Brady would never be able to take a mental health break. But Rose refuted the point by citing Michael Jordan, claiming that although it wasn’t categorized as a mental health break, that’s what his first retirement from the NBA was nearly three decades ago.

“For the people who feel like you practiced your entire life and now this is the major moment, this is what I want them to understand,” Rose said. “Michael Jordan won three championships and lost his father. And took two years of a mental health break, he was an adult playing in the NBA. The GOAT already.”

“She’s 24 years old!” Rose added of Biles. “It’s way different when you’re a kid, she actually showed maturity to me by saying ‘this isn’t about me, I don’t feel my best. I will take a step back and allow you guys to flourish because this isn’t all about me.’”

Watch above via The Breakfast Club

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