Millionaire university student fires back at newspaper headline hypocrisy

An American entrepreneur has shared an image which she says shows a newspaper’s hypocrisy after a headline that attacked her.

University gymnast Olivia Dunne is hitting back at a New York newspaper over a headline that attacked her.

The American college sport star has taken to Instagram to post an image of her wearing her Louisiana State University gymnastics team uniform she says shows the hypocrisy of an article that appeared in The New York Times.

The 20-year-old, who is the most-followed college athlete in the world with more than 2.3 million fans on Instagram, called out the publication in an Instagram Story, where she posted a photo from the photo shoot with the newspaper.

The New York Post reports Dunne’s Instagram response to the article titled ‘New Endorsements for College Athletes Resurface an Old Concern: Sex Sells’, shows her frustration about the way she was portrayed.

The article chronicled Dunne’s growing social media profile and her estimated earnings of more than $2.3 million in endorsement deals.

While highlighting Dunne’s earnings, The Times also noted that “the new flood of money — and the way many female athletes are attaining it — troubles some who have fought for equitable treatment in women’s sports and say that it rewards traditional feminine desirability over athletic excellence”.

Dunne hit back by tagging The Times’ Instagram handle and writing on her Instagram stories alongside the photo: “Is this too much?”

Olivia Dunne hits back at the newspaper. Photo: Instagram/Olivia Dunne.

Olivia Dunne flaunts her fame. Photo: Instagram/Olivia Dunne.

Dunne frequently shares photos of herself on the platform, where she can be seen modelling everyday wear, swimsuits, or her LSU leotards.

In recent years, Dunne has become one of the most influential student-athletes, inking endorsement deals following the NCAA’s name, image, and likeness (NIL) rule change last summer.

“Seven figures,” Dunne told The Times of how much she is earning in NIL deals. “That is something I’m proud of. Especially since I’m a woman in college sports.”

Elsewhere in the piece, Tara VanDerveer, Stanford’s legendary women’s basketball coach, elaborated on why the strategy could be considered a “step back.”

Olivia Dunne has more than 2.3 million followers. Photo: Instagram/Olivia Dunne.

Olivia Dunne shares her life with followers. Instagram/Olivia Dunne.

“I guess sometimes we have this swinging pendulum, where we maybe take two steps forward, and then we take a step back. We’re fighting for all the opportunities to compete, to play, to have resources, to have facilities, to have coaches, and all the things that go with Olympic-caliber athletics,” VanDerveer said, adding, “This is a step back.”

Dunne, who is currently a junior at LSU, ranks at No. 1 on On3 Sports’ list of female NIL moneymakers, valuing athletes by performance, influence, and exposure.

She became a millionaire at the age of 18, with help from her massive social media following and skills as an all-around gymnast with the LSU Tigers.

She has treated her social media profiles like a business since she was aged 10 — and she now has more than six million followers on TikTok and 2.2 million followers on Instagram.

She is the most followed female NCAA athlete and also has more than 30,000 Twitter followers.

Dunne signed with WME Sports for representation last August and announced her first exclusive brand partnership with the activewear brand Vuori the following month.

More deals followed with brands such as PlantFuela, a protein and supplements company, Bartleby, a study tool for college students that is owned by Barnes & Noble, TooFaced cosmetics, GrubHub, Madden/EA Sports and American Eagle.

— This story originally appeared on nypost.com and has been republished with permission