CT Sun, WNBA Stars Condemn Hate Speech Toward Players

The WNBA saw massive growth this season due in part to the influx of new stars like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, but the newfound attention of the league was met with racist and sexist comments toward players.

Commissioner Cathy Engelbert failed to condemn hate speech toward players in an interview with CNBC in September, but the league put out a statement Wednesday doing so. The statement said the league was monitoring threat activity and working with law enforcement.

The statement came after Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington revealed on her Instagram she received a death threat following her foul on Caitlin Clark in Game 1 of the first round. Carrington accidentally poked Clark in the eye, and while the players brushed off the incident, some fans did not — it wasn’t helped that Carrington was practically interrogated by a reporter. There were some fans at Mohegan Sun Arena who mocked Carrington’s eyelashes and nails during Game 2 on Wednesday.

Other fans called out the racist actions, and Alyssa Thomas stood up for her teammate after the Sun swept the Indiana Fever in the first round of the WNBA playoffs. Thomas told reporters that “basketball is headed in a great direction, but we don’t want fans that are going to degrade us and call us racial things.”

“We’ve been professional through the whole entire thing, but I’ve never been called the things that I’ve been called on social media, and there’s no place for it,” Thomas said, per Jon Couture of The Boston Globe. “We come to play basketball for our job, and it’s fun, but we don’t want to go to work every day and have social media blown up over things like that. It’s uncalled for and something needs to be done, whether it’s them checking their fans or the league. There’s no time for it anymore.”

Aliyah Boston was part of an end-of-season news conference Friday and echoed Thomas’ sentiments.

“It’s hard to hear but it’s the truth in some way. I wouldn’t put everything on Fever fans,” Boston told reporters, Jacob Rude of SB Nation. “I was on the other end of the hate comments. They said they support the Fever and then say everything (under the sun).”

The hate speech from fans arguably came as a reaction to things that happened to Clark on the basketball court. The Fever star played down any hard foul she received throughout the season, but hate speech continued to be thrown at players like Carrington and Chicago Sky star Chennedy Carter. Clark made her stance known to the people making those comments.

“It’s definitely upsetting. Nobody in our sure league should be facing any sort of racism,” Clark told reporters, per Rude. “Those aren’t fans. Those are trolls.”

Brittney Griner supported Carrington and also condemned hate speech from fans. Those sentiments were echoed by ESPN’s Andraya Carter this week. But Angel Reese highlighted how some media members didn’t take the same action when she was dealing with racist and sexist comments, especially during her rivalry with Clark in college. Indeed, pundits like Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe primarily escalated the discourse and fed the notion that other WNBA players were jealous of Clark’s popularity, which continues to be debunked.

The WNBA playoffs continue with the Sun taking on the Minnesota Lynx in the semifinals starting Sunday. But the hope for players and fans is that the conversations from this week lead to meaningful changes in media coverage and attitude toward players.