September 26, 2024
The Connecticut Sun’s Alyssa Thomas and head coach Stephanie White addressed the racism from Fever fans following Sunday’s playoff game.
Following the Connecticut Sun’s victory over the Indiana Fever in the 2024 WNBA Playoffs, Sun players and coaches took to the press room to address the online racism they’ve faced from the Fever fanbase.
“Honestly, I think it’s been a lot of nonsense,” Alyssa Thomas said during a press conference. “I think in my 11-year career, I’ve never experienced the racial comments from the Indiana Fever fanbase. It’s unacceptable. There’s no place for it, and we’ve been professional throughout the whole entire thing, but I’ve never been called the things that I’ve been called on social media.” She believes basketball is moving forward in a great direction. However, the Sun forward stated that fans who degrade and spew racist comments at the team aren’t wanted. “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 this league checking. There’s no time for it anymore.”
The press conference followed Sunday’s postseason series face-off that had fans riled up after Sun starter Dijonai Carrington poked Fever guard Caitlin Clark in her right eye after a play in the first quarter. Fever fans accused Carrington of intentionally targeting Clark’s eye and took to social media to wreak havoc on the Sun after they posted their dub. One user called the team “a bunch of thugs.” Under a clip posted to X by The Boston Post, a user called the team “ghetto queens,” while another wrote, “another thug.” Carrington’s girlfriend, Indiana Fever player NaLyssa Smith, says the Sun player has been followed, called “all types” of names, and received death threats.
Stephanie White, head coach for the Connecticut Sun, expressed frustration with the media’s failure to manage social media trolls and challenged public platforms to “do a better job” because allowing trolls to control the narrative is “unacceptable.”
The WNBA released an official statement on X condemning all “racist, derogatory, or threatening comments” targeted at any of the league’s players, teams, or affiliates. The statement revealed the WNBA’s commitment to protect its elite athletes from any “threat-related activity” through security and work with teams and arenas to “take appropriate measures, to include involving law enforcement, as necessary.”
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