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Gabby Douglas Skips 2016 MTV Video Music Awards After Brief Hospital Stay: Is Everything Alright?

By Patricia Grannum
Published on: 15:18 PST, Aug 28, 2016

Gabby Douglas will be sitting out the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards after a brief hospital stay, Entertainment Weekly reports. This means that Douglas did not join the rest of her Final Five teammates on the VMA red carpet this evening.

Gabby announced the news on her Instagram page, where she posted a picture of herself in bed at what looks like a New York hotel room. Douglas did not say why she was at the hospital

Gabby Douglas was expected to join her Final Five teammates, Simone Biles, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian, and Aly Raisman, to present an award at the VMAs 2016 at Madison Square Garden. However, tonight the Final Five will be the Final Four due to Gabby’s absence. As Us Weekly notes, the reason for Douglas’ short stay in the hospital has not been disclosed. A spokesperson for the Olympic champion did not respond to their request for a comment on Gabby’s illness.

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As Entertainment Weekly notes, this recent bout of illness caps off a very challenging month for Gabby Douglas. During the Rio Olympics 2016, Douglas failed to medal in any of the individual gymnastics events. She was the darling of the London Olympics 2012, where she won all-around Olympic gold.

During the medal ceremony for the Final Five team event, Gabby was intensely criticized for not putting her hand on her heart when the U.S. national anthem was played.

The criticism of Gabby seemed even more unwarranted when the U.S. Men’s shot putters got no vitriol hurled at them for not placing their hands over their hearts during their medal ceremony. Also, even though Ryan Lochte fabricated a robbery story to hide the fact that he and some of his teammates committed an act of vandalism, criticisms of him on social media seemed tame compared to what Gabby Douglas received.

Gabby would later explain that she was standing at attention at the medal ceremony. She also admitted that all of the social media bullying got her down while she was at the Olympics in Rio, Us Weekly reports.

“I tried to stay off the internet because there’s just so much negativity,” she said. “Either it was about my hair or my hand not over my heart or I look depressed. It was hurtful. It was hurtful. It was. It’s been kind of a lot to deal with.”

“I apologized if I offended anyone,” Gabby added. I’ve always said it was an honor to represent the U.S. You always do this for your country, and then, like people say, for yourself and other people.”

Douglas also got some criticism when she did not join a standing ovation for her teammates, Simone Biles and Aly Raisman when they won gold and silver during the Olympic all-around final.

“When I heard some of the comments, I was finally like ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, that’s far from me and far from my personality at all,'” said the 20-year-old star gymnast.

On a lighter note, although they were missing one member, the Final Five looked radiant on the MTV VMAs’ red carpet.

And they got to present Beyonce with an award. Check out Laurie Hernandez’s reaction after Queen Bey hugged her.

[Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images]

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