{"id":360846,"date":"2025-12-20T23:52:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T23:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/360846\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T23:52:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T23:52:16","slug":"wnba-investigating-racial-slurs-by-fans-made-at-angel-reese-during-indiana-game-ap-source-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/360846\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA investigating racial slurs by fans made at Angel Reese during Indiana game, AP source says"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The WNBA is investigating racial comments directed toward Angel Reese by fans during the Chicago Sky\u2019s loss to Caitlin Clark and the Fever<\/a> at Indiana on Saturday, according to a person familiar with the situation.<\/p>\n

The person spoke to The Associated Press on Sunday on condition of anonymity because the league had not publicly identified the subject of the taunts or who made the allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe WNBA strongly condemns racism, hate, and discrimination in all forms \u2014 they have no place in our league or in society,\u201d the league said in a statement. \u201cWe are aware of the allegations and are looking into the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reese, who is Black, and Clark, who is white, met for the seventh time in their ongoing \u2014 and much-talked-about \u2014 rivalry<\/a>. Clark was named Rookie of the Year last season and Reese finished second in the voting.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: WNBA investigating racial slurs by fans made at Angel Reese during Indiana game, AP source says\n <\/p>\n

The WNBA is investigating racial slurs by fans made at Angel Reese during Chicago\u2019s game at Indiana. Correspondent Gethin Coolbaugh reports.<\/p>\n

The WNBA Players Union released a statement soon after the league\u2019s comment on the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe WNBPA is aware of reports of hateful comments at yesterday\u2019s game in Indianapolis and supports the WNBA\u2019s current investigation into this matter. Such behavior is unacceptable in our sport,\u201d the statement said. \u201cUnder the WNBA\u2019s \u2018No Space for Hate\u2019 policy, we trust the league to thoroughly investigate and take swift, appropriate action to ensure a safe and welcoming environment for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sky president and CEO Adam Fox said later Sunday in a statement that the organization welcomes the league\u2019s investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will do everything in our power to protect Chicago Sky players, and we encourage the league to continue taking meaningful steps to create a safe environment for all WNBA players,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Sky and Fever will play four more times during the regular season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are aware of the allegations of inappropriate fan conduct during yesterday\u2019s game and we are working closely with the WNBA to complete their investigation,\u201d the Fever said in a statement. \u201cWe stand firm in our commitment to providing a safe environment for all WNBA players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reese had 12 points and 17 rebounds in the 93-58 loss to the Fever. The Sky forward and Clark had an incident on the court with 4:38 left in the third quarter. It started with Reese grabbing an offensive rebound and Clark slapping Reese\u2019s arm hard enough to jar the ball loose and knock Reese to floor.<\/p>\n

When Reese got up, she tried to confront Clark<\/a> before Indiana center Aliyah Boston stepped in between the players. Clark\u2019s third personal foul was upgraded to a flagrant 1, while Boston and Reese each drew technical fouls following a replay review by the referees.<\/p>\n

Both players downplayed the play after the game.<\/p>\n

The league launched \u201cNo Space for Hate\u201d this season, a multi-dimensional platform designed to combat hate and promote respect across all WNBA spaces both online and in arenas.<\/p>\n

The league is focused on four areas: enhanced technological features to detect hateful comments online; increased emphasis on team, arena and league security measures; reinforcing mental health resources; and alignment against hate.<\/p>\n

This will be the league\u2019s first test of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice in words, but we got to see actions,\u201d Aces star A\u2019ja Wilson said Friday after practice. \u201cHopefully people can take actions and understand this is bigger than basketball. We\u2019re true people behind it. Any shoe that we wear, any jersey we have on, we\u2019re human. People have to respect that. I hope they pay attention and listen to the words.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP WNBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/wnba-basketball<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 The WNBA is investigating racial comments directed toward Angel Reese by fans during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[650,35717,2648,3691,1760,438,21964,793,5630,8262,2652,3766,15754,99,13666,795,434,13017,13016],"class_list":["post-360846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-aja-wilson","tag-adam-fox","tag-aliyah-boston","tag-angel-reese","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-chicago-sky","tag-discrimination","tag-general-news","tag-il-state-wire","tag-in-state-wire","tag-indiana","tag-race-and-ethnicity","tag-racism","tag-sports","tag-sports-stories","tag-u-s-news","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-basketball","tag-womens-national-basketball-association"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}