{"id":809525,"date":"2026-07-19T04:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T04:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/809525\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T04:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T04:34:13","slug":"tempo-coach-sandy-brondello-suspended-over-protected-species-comment-about-angel-reese-wnba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/809525\/","title":{"rendered":"Tempo coach Sandy Brondello suspended over \u2018protected species\u2019 comment about Angel Reese | WNBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toronto Tempo coach Sandy Brondello was suspended for one game by the WNBA<\/a> for an inappropriate comment she used during a game against the Atlanta Dream on Friday.<\/p>\n

She\u2019ll miss Monday\u2019s game against the Las Vegas Aces.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe WNBA expects all coaches and team personnel to uphold the highest standards of professionalism and respect that are fundamental to our league,\u201d the league said Saturday in a statement announcing the suspension.<\/p>\n

During the 111-92 loss to the Dream, the broadcast picked up the Tempo\u2019s coach addressing officials after Toronto player Nyara Sabally went down with an injury after contact with Angel Reese. Sabally was called for the foul and Brondello could be heard saying Reese was a \u201cprotected species\u201d.<\/p>\n

Brondello posted an apology on social media on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAngel, I\u2019m sorry,\u201d Brondello said. \u201cLast night, in the emotion of the moment after Nyara\u2019s injury, I used a phrase that I shouldn\u2019t have used, and I take full responsibility for that. My frustration was with the officiating, but my words unfairly put the focus on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reese took to social media after the game, posting: \u201cARE WE SURPRISED?!\u201d and tagging Brondello\u2019s account, followed by a clown face emoji.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also understand that my words carried an impact beyond what I intended, particularly for Black women in our league, and I\u2019m deeply sorry for that,\u201d Brondello posted. \u201cI\u2019ve spent my career competing with, coaching and learning from incredible Black women.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coach added: \u201cI regret that my words caused hurt to a community I respect so deeply. I have a lot of respect for you as both a player and a person, and I sincerely apologize to you, your teammates, and the Dream organization for my comment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Brondello, who is in her first season with the expansion Tempo, is Australian. The \u201cprotected species\u201d phrase is used in Australian sports to express frustration for a lack of calls against a player. However, in the US, the phrase suggests that someone isn\u2019t human and could be seen as derogatory toward Black people.<\/p>\n

Brondello has been a head coach in the league since 2014, winning titles with Phoenix and New York.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toronto Tempo coach Sandy Brondello was suspended for one game by the WNBA for an inappropriate comment she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-809525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}