On Wednesday (Sept. 4), Australian breakdancer Rachael "Raygun" Gunn appeared on "The Project" to speak on her appearance at the Summer Olympics in Paris. Much of the discussion was centered on the backlash she received worldwide due to her performance, in which she failed to score any points across three early rounds. To many fans and contributors of the Hip Hop community, Gunn’s display was a huge setback for the sport – one that the International Olympic Committee confirmed won’t be returning for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

“I was the top-ranked Australian B-girl in 2020, 2022, and 2023. I've been invited to represent at... world championships [in] Paris and Korea. So, the record is there, but anything can happen in a battle," she stated. "I am very sorry for the backlash that the community has experienced, but I can't control how people react. Unfortunately, we just need some more resources in Australia for us to have a chance to be world champions... I don’t think that’s just on me. I have trained so hard.”

Gunn added, “It was really sad how much hate that it did evoke. And a lot of the responses [are]also just due to people not being very familiar with breaking and the diversity of approaches in breaking. It was so fantastic that, the next day, the judging chair [MGbility] came out and explained that, in the breaking community, what I did actually wasn't very shocking... Of course, there's been a portion of angry and awful responses, not only attacking me, but [also] attacking my husband, my crew, the breaking and street dance community in Australia, [and] my family. The energy and vitriol that people had was pretty alarming.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Gunn addressed an online petition claiming that she should be held accountable for “unethical conduct” at the Olympics. That petition – which has since been taken down – also accused the university professor and her husband of “manipulating the selection process.”

“The conspiracy theories were just awful," she admitted. “That was really upsetting because it wasn't just people that didn't understand breaking and were just angry about my performance. It was people [who] are now attacking our reputation and our integrity, and none of them were grounded in any kind of facts.”