SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (WTVO) — LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne, 20, who has nearly 7 milliion followers on TikTok, asked fans to be “respectful” after an incident involving overzealous boys at LSU’s season-opening meet against Utah on Friday.
Dunne tweeted after the incident at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, “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.”
Even though Dunne wasn’t scheduled to compete, fans held up signs of support. One read “Birthday wishlist — 1. Get a pic with Livvy, 2. Have Livvy in my BeReal, 3. Get a follow back.”
According to the New York Post, things took a southward turn when some of the fans acted in a “disrespectful” manner to the other athletes.
KSL reporter Josh Furlong tweeted that “There’s literally a line outside of the Huntsman Center of teenage boys that keep asking if Livvy is coming out. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
He added, “LSU had to move its team bus so they didn’t have to run into the group of boys. There were cops stationed in front to avoid them getting in.”
“As we were walking to the car the group swarmed my daughter and her teammate,” said Jillian Hoffman’s mother, Jennifer. “They literally said to their faces, you are not Livvy but you will do, can we get a picture? [They] also called my daughter Livvy 2.0. They were so rude and disrespectful.”
Dunne is one of the most followed athletes on social media, with an estimated worth of $2.3 million. She has several sponsorships with brands such as Vuori, American Eagle, and Planet Fuel.
