Actress Ilana Glazer attacks women's sports advocate Riley Gaines: 'You're just stealing money'



Emmy award winner Ilana Glazer described former NCAA swimmer turned anti-trans activist Riley Gaines as delusional for her campaign to keep biological men out of women's sports.

In a podcast posted Thursday, Glazer and her guest Matt Bernstein continually insulted Gaines while simultaneously saying she is part of a cruel, right-wing grifter movement.

'She is mad she lost fifth place in a swimming competition to a trans woman.'

Bernstein, a makeup artist and activist who refers to himself as a "queer Jew with long nails," gleefully insulted Gaines on the podcast "It's Open with Ilana Glazer," while calling the former NCAA swimmer a bully.

All wet

Bernstein said Gaines has been "grifting millions of dollars" for years through "bullying people with no societal capital."

Glazer then chimed in to refer to specific "right-wing people" as "sociopathic" before jumping all over Gaines. After referring to topics surrounding Gaines as "garbage," Glazer boiled the athlete's work down to being mad that she "lost fifth place."

"She is mad she lost fifth place in a swimming competition to a trans woman," she added.

Gaines tied William "Lia" Thomas — a man — for fifth place in the 2022 NCAA women's 200-yard freestyle final. The two failed to mention that Thomas also won the women's 500-yard freestyle final, making him a national women's champion.

Thomas was also famously ranked as low as No. 554 when competing in men's NCAA swimming, as opposed to reaching No. 1 against women.

RELATED: ‘I do nothing for the approval of man’: Riley Gaines delivers masterclass response after Trump’s ‘not a big fan’ jab

Shallow end

Gaines' work resulted in an executive order to keep women's sports for women only, but Glazer described the activism as "so stupid."

"That is so uncreative. That's literally stealing," Glazer said, likening Gaines' work to "anti-trans messaging, which genuinely leads to violence against trans women."

With significant vocal fry, Bernstein then stated that Gaines and other women's rights activists ignore "statistics or reality or truth" and instead profit off "the most minoritized people" in the country, referring to men who think they are women.

Nice Gaines

Bernstein did correctly characterize early comments from Gaines, however. In a 2022 interview with the Daily Wire shortly after her competition, Gaines said about Thomas, "I am in full support of her and full support of her transition and her swimming career and everything like that."

She added, "because there's no doubt that she works hard too, but she's just abiding by the rules that the NCAA put in place, and that's the issue."

RELATED: Olympic Committee adopts new policy on 'trans' athletes

Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

Bernstein concluded that it was the right thing to do for Gaines to simply "move on" and ultimately wish Thomas well.

Glazer then described Gaines as having a "money-making scheme" that has now merged with "some new semblance of reality that she was robbed."

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‘I do nothing for the approval of man’: Riley Gaines delivers masterclass response after Trump’s ‘not a big fan’ jab



On April 12, Riley Gaines responded to President Trump’s controversial AI-generated meme depicting him as Jesus with the following X post:

After deleting his post, President Trump was asked by reporters if he removed the image because of the criticism from Gaines and other conservatives. He responded, “I didn't listen to Riley Gaines. I'm not a big fan of Riley, actually.”

Gaines posted a video response on April 14, in which she stood by her original comments on Trump’s post but also expressed continued support for the president and his America First agenda.

BlazeTV host Pat Gray admired Gaines’ response and thought she handled the tough situation with tact. On a recent episode of “Pat Gray Unleashed,” he and the panel played Gaines’ video response and reacted to it.

“I love the president. I support the president. I'm always in his corner. I think he's like a master troll, if you will. But for the life of me, I just can't understand why he would post something like this,” said Gaines.

She then addressed her original April 12 post. “I said, two things are true. Number one, a little humility would serve President Trump well. And second, God shall not be mocked. ... The comments were filled with people calling me a RINO and a grifter and a closeted liberal who's trying to destroy President Trump.”

But Gaines doubled down on her support for the president despite the offensive image and his personal jab at her.

“Following his comments, I have had a plethora of reporters from left-wing media reach out to me for comment, trying to bait me into saying something bad about President Trump because he doesn't like me,” said Gaines.

“News flash: I don't do what I do or say what I say to be liked. If that were the case, I would stick behind the slogan of 'trans women are women.' I do what I do and say what I say because I have moral conviction.”

She then delivered her official response to Trump’s dig:

“To the reporters from CNN, ABC, CBS. I love the president, and I am so grateful and glad that he is in the Oval Office. I will continue to support him and the America First agenda. At the end of the day, I do nothing for the approval of man, no matter who that man is, including the president. Our main purpose on this earth is to glorify the Lord, our Creator, our Savior, in everything that we do.”

Gaines concluded her video response by expressing desire for President Trump and others to know Jesus.

“I just know that I want to spend eternity in a very real place called heaven, and I would love for the president to be there as well. ... I am going to keep doing my part by speaking the truth and doing my best to lead people to Christ and supporting the America First agenda.”

Pat calls Gaines’ video “fantastic.”

“Wow, what a great response,” he says, praising her for refusing to “ratchet up vitriol.”

He and co-host Jeffy agree with Gaines that Trump should have shown more humility over his post.

“Why not just come out and say, ‘Hey, you know, I posted it and then I thought, what am I doing? And I took it down.’ The end,” says Jeffy.

Pat concurs, “Yeah, then you don’t have this week-long situation going on.”

To see Gaines’ video and hear more of the “Unleashed” panel’s commentary, watch the video above.

Want more from Pat Gray?

To enjoy more of Pat's biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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Riley Gaines: Why Americans are FINALLY pushing back on gender ideology



Women’s sports, children’s innocence, and biological reality are at the center of America’s cultural struggle — but Riley Gaines tells BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey at AmFest that the tide is finally turning.

However, it took some serious struggle on Gaines’ part before she began to see a change.

“It was really hard to read some of the things that are being said about you. I mean, bear in mind, I’m a 21-year-old college student who merely just wanted to compete fairly, right? Seems like the bare minimum,” Gaines recalls.

“For saying the things that I said, such as ‘there are two sexes’ and ‘you can’t change your sex’ and ‘each sex is deserving of equal opportunity of privacy and of safety’ — for saying that, you’re vilified,” she explains.


While at the time, Gaines was hurt by the negative response, which included being called names like “racist” and “misogynist,” it’s now “water off the duck’s back.”

“I put all of the confidence and the security that I have in the fact that I’m fighting for the hope and the promise of eternal life. And once you do that, it shifts your perspective to understand that nothing of this world matters,” Gaines says.

Because of the courage of women like Gaines, Stuckey feels that the “tide is turning in a really good way when it comes to female sports.”

“You’re really in the thick of it,” Stuckey says. “Like, you see the activist attacks. You’re seeing what’s really going on on college campuses. Do you feel like the tide is turning?”

“110%,” Gaines answers. “You compare now to even a year ago, it’s very different. I think we’re seeing more people with the willingness and the boldness to say that men can’t become women. Men can’t get pregnant. Women don’t need prostate exams. Tampons don’t belong in boys' bathrooms.”

“Obviously, it sounds pretty cliche, but I do believe courage begets courage. And so when you have people like yourself, or you have President Trump in the Oval Office, that gives the people a lot of cover, right?” she continues.

“They see him doing it or you doing it, and they think, I can do that,” she adds.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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