Simone Biles' Conciliatory Tone With Riley Gaines Gets Husband And NFL Player Jonathan Owens Involved In Feud

The Simone Biles versus Riley Gaines saga on Tuesday drew in Biles' husband Jonathan Owens, a safety for the Chicago Bears, for the first time.

Owens has been absent from the fray while Biles and Gaines went back and forth on social media on the topic of transgender athletes competing in women's and girls' sports – contrary to a Federal executive order, no less.

NEW YORK - Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens attend the 2025 Met Gala Celebrating "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 5, 2025.  (Photo by Theo Wargo/FilmMagic)

Jonathan Owens Stayed Clear Of Disagreement

The Bears safety indeed hadn't posted anything on his expansive social media accounts since June 4, when he re-posted a Bears post about the team's media day.

That means Owens declined to be involved in the Gaines versus Biles back-and-forth from the moment it began June 6, when the Olympic gold medal gymnast and the NCAA 12-time All-American swimmer started their exchange – one Biles initiated when she called the 5-foot-5 Gaines a "bully."

Sports fans got involved in the verbal fracas.

Danica Patrick got involved in the verbal fracas.

Jemele Hill and Stephen A. Smith, of course, had to get involved in the verbal fracas. 

But none of that caused Owens to say or echo anything to his 650,000 Instagram followers or 34,000 X followers until Tuesday.

That's when Owens re-posted the latest X post by Biles on both his X account and on his Instagram story.

Biles Latest Post Gets Jonathan Owens Reaction

That Biles post, by the way, resembled something of an apology. It was conciliatory at the very least.

Biles said she got personal with Gaines, "which I apologize for."

And you can weigh and measure the latest post by Biles in whatever way you feel is right. I'm not the thought police here. 

What does interest me is seeing that the NFL player, for whatever reason, didn't weigh in at all until there was a conciliatory tone being struck by his wife.

It's pretty obvious Owens must agree with everything he re-posted in the Biles "tweet," including the part about "sports organizations have a responsibility to come up with rules supporting inclusion while maintaining fair competition."

Look, no one has said transgender athletes shouldn't be included. The argument has been why do they have to be included in girls' or women's events?

They can be included in events against biological boys.

Or perhaps, as Biles said, sports organizations should come up with rules or categories of competition that include transgender athletes. 

CHICAGO - Jonathan Owens of the Chicago Bears and Simone Biles kiss before the game against the New England Patriots at Soldier Field on November 10, 2024. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Owens Reason For Delayed Engagement Unclear

I'm not a social scientist. So I don't have the answer for having it both ways.

But it's clear one of two things is true about Owens:

Either he was too busy and caught up with the Bears' OTA sessions and offseason program to join the disagreement between his wife and Gaines earlier. That one's a little hard to believe.

Or he elected not to get involved until the issue didn't include personal attacks and instead tried to put the issue to bed. In that regard, perhaps Owens wasn't comfortable getting between the two women giving each other a piece of their minds.

Owens, by the way, has not discussed this issue publicly beyond his retweet or re-post on Tuesday. It'll be interesting to see if he continues to engage or moves on to, you know, football.