WNBA stars didn’t hold back while criticizing the league’s commissioner Cathy Engelbert after her recent comments about social media attacks on players.
Engelbert faced backlash after she appeared on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” on Monday and was asked by anchor Tyler Mathisen how the league tries to stay ahead of the “darker” side of social media — specifically from fan bases of star rookies, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, “where race has been introduced in the conversation, where sexuality is sometimes introduced into the conversation.”
Engelbert didn’t directly answer the question, and instead focused on the benefits of Clark-Reese rivalry, which she compared to NBA legends, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, whose playing days took place before social media existed.
“There was a silver platter to just address it,” Sun guard DiJonai Carrington said before Connecticut’s win over the Sparks on Tuesday. “Obviously you can’t control what people are gonna say, what people are gonna do, what people are gonna tweet out. You can’t control social media. But that has nothing to do with what you can do and using your voice and your platform to try to put a stop to it.
“Or to just say, this is not the type of behavior that we endorse as the league. And as the commissioner who has what, probably 90 percent Black people or people who identify as Black in some way shape or form in the league, I think it was kind of eye-opening because the things that we have all experienced this season have been pretty sickening.”
Liberty star Breanna Stewart called Engelbert’s comments “disappointing to hear,” and said she wished the commissioner used her platform to say “enough is enough” when it comes to the dialogue around the Clark-Reese rivalry.
Aces stars Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum and Alysha Clark also spoke about how Engelbert dropped the ball in her interview.
“I just think it’s doing a disservice to the majority of this league in not talking about the part that it’s consumed and played by Black women,” Gray told ESPN ahead of Las Vegas’s game against Clark and the Indiana Fever on Wednesday. “And to basically be like, ‘Yep, we push it under the carpet that racism is OK.’ So not being direct and handling that, I think she did a poor job of doing that.”
Clark explained that it was a “missed opportunity” by Engelbert to condemn racism and misogyny and homophobia in the WNBA — which the league’s players have publicly fought against for years.
“I think there was an opportunity for her to really be able to take hold of what’s been going on and let people know that regardless of the amount of dollars that are coming in, regardless of whatever, racism and misogyny and homophobia, they have no place in our league, and they have no place regardless of how popular our sport is,” Clark said.
“It’s taken a darker turn in terms of the types of comments and the vitriol that’s coming through to the players, and it’s not OK. I wish [Engelbert] would have just said that — ‘It’s not OK.’”
Plum, the No. 1 pick in the 2017 WNBA draft, said Engelbert’s comments were “hard to hear” on Tuesday.
“It’s pretty clear, there’s a difference between rivalries and racism. Big difference,” she said.
The WNBPA released a statement through executive director Terri Jackson denouncing racism, homophobia, transphobia and misogyny on Tuesday.
“Here is the answer that the Commissioner should have provided to the very clear question regarding the racism, misogyny, and harassment experienced by the Players,” the statement said. “There is absolutely no place in sport — or in life — for the vile hate, racist language, homophobic comments, and the misogynistic attacks our players are facing on social media.
“This is not about rivalries or iconic personalities fueling a business model. This kind of toxic fandom should never be tolerated or left unchecked. It demands immediate action, and frankly, should have been addressed long ago.”
Hours later, Engelbert condemned racism of any kind in a post on X.
“During a recent media interview, I was asked about the dark side of social media and online conversation about WNBA rivalries and race. To be clear, there is absolutely no place for hate or racism of any kind in the WNBA or anywhere else,” Engelbert wrote on Tuesday.
In the CNBC interview, Taylor mentioned Clark and Reese’s college rivalry and how fans have used it to fuel negative attacks on social media.
“How do you try and stay ahead of that, try and tamp it down or act as a league when two of your most visible players are involved — not personally, it would seem, but their fan bases are involved — in saying some very uncharitable things about the other?” Mathisen asked.
Engelbert explained that she was told to “ignore” social media comments.
Her answer in full is below:
“One thing that’s great about the league right now, we do sit at the intersection of culture and sports and fashion and music. WNBA players are really looked at now as cultural icons. When you have that, you have a lot of attention on you. There’s no more apathy. Everybody cares. It is a little of that Bird-Magic moment, if you recall from 1979, when those two rookies came in from a big college rivalry, one white, one black. So we have that moment with these two.
“But the one thing I know about sports, you need rivalries. That’s what makes people watch. They want to watch games of consequence between games of rivals. They don’t want everybody being nice to one another.
“Social media is different today than it was in 1979, when it didn’t exist. I always tell the players, I was told a long time ago if someone’s typing something in and you wouldn’t ask their advice, ignore it. It’s a balance. But certainly from marketing dollars, corporate partners are stepping up to endorse these players much more so than they were five years ago, because they see the benefit of having women and diverse women representing their brand.”
Clark, who is white, and Reese, who is black, captivated women’s basketball with their college rivalry at Iowa and LSU, respectively.
Their impact on the game helped boost revenue, attendance and viewership at the collegiate level, and has since transferred to the WNBA when Clark was selected with the first overall pick by the Fever and Reese was taken No. 7 overall by the Sky in the 2024 WNBA draft.
Although Clark and Reese — who were the only rookies to make the 2024 WNBA All-Star team — have maintained they don’t have any beef, their fan bases have launched negative attacks on players.
Reese, who is now out for the season with a wrist injury, claimed some of Clark’s fans are racist while discussing their rivalry on her podcast, “Unapologetically Angel” last week.
On Wednesday, the WNBA announced the 2024 regular season was the most-watched ever across ESPN platforms.