Racist vitriol toward WNBA players needs to end: ‘Don’t want fans that are going to degrade us.’

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The WNBA has seen record levels of interest. Sold out arenas. New TV deals, better viewing windows, and viewership records.

But that interest has also brought never-ending vitriol and hatred toward players on social media.

That harassment needs to stop.

Connecticut Sun players, especially DiJonai Carrington, faced a lot of hatred during the Fever-Sun playoff series.

One specific play in the first quarter on Sunday sparked a firestorm on social media: Carrington, while trying to steal the ball, inadvertently poked Fever rookie Caitlin Clark in the eye, which caused a bruise under her eye. It wasn’t an intentional foul, by any means: Clark said it herself.

Still, people on social media were harassing Carrington nonstop, saying that Clark could have lost her eyesight (she wouldn’t have), calling for Carrington to be suspended from the league, saying she intentionally committed battery, and calling for Fever players to get their revenge by intentionally injuring her.

“We all see it,” Carrington said on Tuesday of talks on social media. “It is what it is. I think that at the end of the day, I know who I am, and I know what type of person and player I am, and the people who know me know that as well. … It is what it is. People are gonna talk, but like we’ve been doing all season, we’re gonna keep talking on the court.”

Ahead of the second game of the series on Wednesday, Carrington received a graphic email that included racist, misogynistic and violent language.

At the game, a fan wore a shirt that said ‘ban nails,’ with cartoonishly long paper fingernails. Carrington, along with other Black players in the league, frequently wear acrylic nails. While the nails have not been an issue throughout the entire WNBA season, Carrington’s nails were not even long for this playoff series.

“I think that in my 11-year career I never experienced the racial comments like from the Indiana Fever fan base,” Sun forward Alyssa Thomas said on Wednesday night. “It’s unacceptable, and honestly there’s no place for it. 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, and there’s no place for it. Basketball is headed in a great direction, but now we don’t we don’t want fans that are going to degrade us and call us racial names.”

Fever vs Sun: Alyssa Thomas calls out ‘racist’ comments from some Fever fans: ‘There’s no place for it.’

Following Thomas’ comments on Wednesday, the WNBA released a statement condemning hateful speech in the league, reading in part: “The WNBA is a competitive league with some of the most elite athletes in the world. While we welcome a growing fanbase, the WNBA will not tolerate racist, derogatory, or threatening comments made about players, teams, and anyone affiliated with the league.”

Let’s get one thing very clear: There is no room for racism, homophobia, transphobia, or any kind of hatred in the game of basketball.

Eliminating it takes multiple steps: Fans, those old and new to the league, need to stop harassing and threatening players. Media can do better in not making those social media troll comments a bigger story than it needs to be. The league itself can do better in tamping down the racism, homophobia and hatred happening in-person and on social media.

“What we in the in the media have to do a better job of not allowing trolls in social media to become a story,” said Sun head coach Stephanie White, who works as an on-air basketball analyst in the WNBA offseason. “And I feel like we have allowed trolls in social media to frame the narrative of what the story is, and it’s unacceptable. It’s unacceptable, and we have to do a better job.”

It’s these players’ jobs. It’s how they make a living. They shouldn’t be coming to work every day being bombarded by hateful comments or threats on social media. Nobody should come to work in those conditions.

It even happens on the court, while players are actively working. Clark pointed out a fan who was shouting at her from his second-row courtside seat to officials during the game on Wednesday night, and that fan was removed and given a warning before returning to his seat.

Caitlin Clark news: Caitlin Clark gets fan temporarily removed from his courtside seat during Game 2 vs. Sun

“There’s a lot of hurtful, hateful speech out there that’s happening, and it’s unacceptable,” Fever head coach Christie Sides said. “It’s unacceptable for any of these guys. This is basketball, and this is their job, and they’re doing the best they can. And when it gets personal, to me … there’s no reason for it. And these guys have to listen and watch that. Social media is their life. This is what they do, and they have to read and see these things constantly, and just all the stories that are made up, you know, just of what people see or think they see.”

Players deserve to play without fear of getting harassed or threatened, whether it’s on social media or in person. Let’s give them that respect.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: WNBA: Racist vitriol toward players needs to end: ‘It’s unacceptable’