Fresh Controversy Brewing in Gymnastics Community as UCLA Stars Get Into Online Feud Amidst Selena Harris Case

It’s not all too well in the UCLA Bruins hood this week. Margzetta Frazier and Sekai Wright, members of the Bruins’ Gen Z representation of Black women in gymnastics, are making news over their public Instagram spat. In May 2024, both gymnasts were part of a Black women’s representation campaign where Frazier preached, “Gymnastics has consumed so much of our lives with the concept of flipping and being perfect,” though failed to live up to her lofty ideals. Even Wright, a full scholarship holder at UCLA, remarked, “We do our best to stay positive because we know what we’re representing,” but the statement lacked comprehension.

It all stems from substantially more extensive accusations of racist behavior that went public in 2022, which back then also involved a transfer portal update like this year. In addition to embarrassing UCLA, their recent catfight raises concerns about the ethical conduct of both artistic gymnasts. While neither Sekai Wright nor Margzetta Frazier have commented on what happened yet, their comment section fight is now garnering more attention.

UCLA’s top-gymnastics members caught lacking morals

Things have been publicly going wrong for two years in UCLA gymnastics when Margzetta Frazier and Sekai Wright, then senior gymnasts from UCLA, discussed the team’s state on Amanda Seales’ podcast. After former coach Chris Waller and his staff bungled the aftermath of a former UCLA gymnast using racist slurs, Frazier went on to call for a coaching change in the podcast. Meanwhile, Wright said, “I silenced myself because I felt like they were going to silence me regardless of what I said.” The controversy now surrounds an Instagram photo of Sekai Wright showing off her street style in an Instagram post with the caption, “Out of Luck.” 

The controversy now surrounds an Instagram photo of Sekai Wright showing off her street style in an Instagram post with the caption, “Out of Luck.” Frazier made the initial comment, “You won’t use me or my friends ever again #babysitting.” “Why are you still here then?“ replied Sekai with a laughing emoji. “Y’all too p**sy to say all this to my face so I really don’t care,“ was Sekai’s second reply. In response to Frazier’s initial comment, someone said,”what was the point of you commenting? somebody supposed to be scared of you or sum.” Then, Sekai swore and called Frazier a “dead as*.” With a sarcastic laughing emoji, Sekai mockingly answered, “I’m weakkk.”

The argument became more heated as the altercation went on, with Margzetta Frazier adding, “at least I can.” “ur wig is scary.“ Notably, Sekai Wright and Margzetta Frazier have 45.9k and 118K followers on Instagram, respectively. Now, it is nearly hard to ignore the two gymnasts’ recent behavior since they served as the face of Black women in the sports campaign. But even after the January 2022 podcast, Frazier confirmed that Alexis Jeffrey who used racist slurs while singing song lyrics and asked to stop by many team members, transferred to LSU. Frazier said that additional misery was brought on by the program’s troubling events being made public and addressed. Notably, another gymnast transfer took place yesterday, leaving Bruins on the path to turn to the ruins.

The Bruins lose yet another top-performing gymnast

After being dismissed from UCLA on Tuesday, Selena Harris—a 12-time All-American and the 2024 Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year—entered the transfer portal. The official announcement from UCLA did not give any particular explanation for Harris’s dismissal. The gymnast has not commented on her exit openly, however on Wednesday she shared a message on X announcing her move. All Harris wrote in her retweet was “shhhhh.” The 20-year-old has also taken down all mention of UCLA gymnastics from her Instagram and X accounts.

In her debut collegiate season, Harris won Pac-12 Freshmen of the Year. She finished the 2024 season tied for the top vault score in the US, recorded four perfect scores, and won the Pac-12 all-around title at the conference finals in March. Harris still has two years of eligibility left, so she may continue to show off her gymnastics ability despite the setback.