20-year-old LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne has amassed over 7 million followers on TikTok and nearly 3 million on Instagram, but her social media popularity is now creating some challenges for her team.
During a recent competition in Salt Lake City, fans swarmed the venue and created a safety risk to Dunne and the other gymnasts. Coach Jeff Clark said the team is hiring a security guard to protect the team and staff while they're on the road.
"That person will be in our hotel and outside our locker room and getting us to and from the bus at the venue," Clark said. "(The officer) will be there to create a perimeter that keeps everybody safe."
Olivia is also trying to help limit the chaos for herself and her teammates. After the incident in Salt Lake City, she took to social media to ask her fans to be respectful.
"I will always appreciate and love the support from you guys, but if you come to a meet, I want to ask you to please be respectful of the other gymnasts and the gymnastics community as we are just doing our job," she said.
She is also facing some backlash in the comments on her posts, with some people accusing her of "seducing" fans and looking like "soft core porn."
One commenter on the above post said: "Wait didn’t you just post a story about being respectful and treating you and your girls like women when at events? Nobody is excusing bad behavior but - maybe if you presented yourself (especially on Instagram- in a more appropriate and not objectified sexual wanderlust you’d probably command a lot more respect and decency instead of slobs drooling and being boys over what looks like a soft core porn star /girl and not a woman."