NBC announcer Al Trautwig said Monday he regrets tweeting that the adoptive mother and father of American gymnastics star Simone Biles were not her parents, a declaration that angered advocates for adoption. Trautwig had been scolded by a woman on Twitter for not referring to Ron and Nellie Biles as the 19-year-old Olympic gymnast's parents. Simone Biles went to live with Ron Biles, her maternal grandfather, and his wife Nellie in Texas while their mother struggled with drugs and alcohol in Ohio; she and sister Adria were adopted in 2000 when the birth mother's parental rights were terminated, reports the AP.
Simone remains in contact with Shanon Biles but is quick to correct anyone who calls Shanon her mother. Shanon Biles is her biological mother, she says. Nellie Biles is mom. "Mother" and "father" were also the phrases used by NBC in a profile of Biles that aired Sunday night. Shortly thereafter, Trautwig said on the air that Simone "was raised by her grandfather and his wife and she calls them mom and dad." A woman on Twitter then urged Trautwig to stop calling Ron and Nellie her grandfather and his wife. "They are her parents," she wrote. But Trautwig replied in his since-deleted tweet: "They may be mom and dad but they are NOT her parents." NBC ordered Trautwig to delete his tweet as #FireTrautwig began to appear on Twitter, reports USA Today. "To set the record straight, Ron and Nellie are Simone's parents," Trautwig said Monday. (More 2016 Olympics stories.)
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