The 2025 US Classic wrapped on July 19 with a lot of headlines. Simone Biles was there to support her WCC mates, Joscelyn Roberson and Dulcy Caylor. Olympic champion Hezly Rivera, just 17 and riding the high of her Paris success, fell on both uneven bars and balance beam—first a messy dismount on bars, then another tumble on beam—leaving fans and coaches uneasy. Claire Pease claimed the senior all-around title with a score of 54.600. But in one unexpected turn of events, the commentary team, composed of John Roethlisberger, Laurie Hernandez, and Samantha Peszek, has ended up under scrutiny. But why?

Inside Gymnastics Magazine took to its Instagram handle on July 21st to make a post about the voices behind the mic during the 2025 US Classic. Posting a picture of John Roethlisberger, Laurie Hernandez, and Samantha Peszek, the CNBC commentary trio for the meet, they overlay a text on the bottom of it that reads, “GYMTERNET PRAISES U.S. CLASSIC COMMENTARY TRIO!”. The problem with this was, the post did not sit well with the Gymternet…

“👏👏👏 The Gymternet has high standards when it comes to gymnastics broadcast commentary and the trio of John Roethlisberger, Laurie Hernandez and Samantha Peszek passed the test during the U.S. Classic broadcast on CNBC and streaming on Peacock,” started the caption of the post. They talked about how the Olympians (Laurie Hernandez –2016 Rio, Samantha Peszek–2008 Beijing, and John Roethlisberger–1992, 1996, 2000) demonstrated excellent chemistry and rapport, guiding viewers through the competition with an approachable style grounded in both knowledge and passion. They also said they each drew from their own experiences as former competitors and offered insightful behind-the-scenes perspectives. Gymternet has reacted with words like, “Wait, we did what now?”

They concluded it with “Users on X (formerly Twitter) praised the trio and we give the broadcast an A+ ! What did you think?” A user took this to the r/Gymnastics subreddit to speak about what they thought of them. With a screenshot of the Instagram post talking of the praise, the Reddit thread was titled, “Is the praise in the room with us?“. The fans who were already unhappy with some things in the classic are again disappointed with the trio and are calling the claims of praise false.

Gymternet angry at the false commentary claims

The gymnastics community is not sitting well with the post made by the gymnastics community. One user commented, “who is this fake news for? Is it engagement-bait? Are they intentionally posting an untrue headline to get people mad so they’ll comment, share, etc.? Because I can’t imagine much of their audience buying this.“. Not only has this person claimed the praise claims as false, but also hinted that the post was a poor trick to bring in engagement by making the fans angry. Another user agreed with him and brought in another perspective.

They wrote, “Right? They aren’t going to get much interest from four year fans, this time of year the audience is almost entirely dedicated gym fans. It’s not for us, so who is it for?” For context, Four‑year fans refer to casual viewers who only pay attention to gymnastics during the Olympics—basically tuning in once every four years, rather than following the sport year-round. What they are saying is that the hardcore gymnastics fans are tuning in to watch the US Classic; such posts with such claims are not justified.

Sarcastic comments were also not left far behind. One person said, “If you disregard all the negative feedback, then everything is positive!”. Laurie Hernandez has an Emmy to her name for her work with NBC during the 2024 Olympics, and yet even she wasn’t safe from the criticism. “I saw this and was like ‘what?’. Laurie sticks like a sore thumb,” said a fan. If you had a chance to catch the 2025 US Classic live on the weekend, do let us know what you thought of the commentary.