Sun head coach and players address hateful comments from fans

Connecticut Sun team members have been recipients of a share of those discriminatory messages during and following their first-round playoff series victory over the Indiana Fever. Sun guard DiJonai Carrington took to social media on Wednesday to share a threatening email she received from an anonymous fan, prompting further conversations among players and the league about fan behavior and player safety.

Following Game 2 of the best-of-three series between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun the WNBA released a statement via social media regarding the hate and discrimination that players have faced from fans this season. The statement was posted by the WNBA in the midst of both Fever and Sun postgame press conferences.

“The WNBA is a competitive league with some of the most elite athletes in the world,” the statement read. “While we welcome a growing fan base, the WNBA will not tolerate racist, derogatory, or threatening comments made about players, teams and anyone affiliated with the league. League security is actively monitoring threat-related activity and will work directly with teams and arenas to take appropriate measures, to include involving law enforcement, as necessary.”

While addressing the media postgame, Sun head coach Stephanie White made a statement regarding the discrimination and hatred that some of her players and other players around the league have received this season.

“Sport is a microcosm of life and of society. And I think we’ve seen a lot of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia throughout the course of our country. Sport is no exception, and it’s unacceptable to be quite honest. I think the thing that frustrates me the most is that we — I say we because I work in television as well — but what we in the media have to do a better job of [is] not allowing trolls on social media to become the story. And I feel like we have allowed trolls on 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,” White told reporters.

“I realize that everybody’s job is predicated on what’s read, what’s clicked on, what’s whatever, what’s watched. I understand that, but I also feel like we have a responsibility to be better when it comes to what we’re representing. When it comes to, I don’t want to say protecting, because these women don’t need [to be] protected. But when it comes to making sure that the narrative is about what we do, and it’s not about who’s being attacked, how they’re being attacked, and we make that newsworthy.”

White is proud of how her team and other players around the league have handled vitriolic gestures from fans in a professional manner. She urged members of the media to be mindful of how they are presenting stories and to not support false and negative narratives around players.

“I applaud our team for maintaining their professionalism — not just our team, it’s a lot of teams in our league. … We continue to encourage them to silence the noise, control what they can control. I don’t go on social media for that reason, and protecting my peace, but I also realize that that’s a privilege for me. And I just encourage everybody to take a step back and think about if it was your sons or your daughters or your nieces or your nephews or your children, for goodness sakes; because if my children were being harassed like this, I’m not sure what I would do. I’m not sure what I would do,” White said.

“We’ve got to get back to keeping the main thing, the main thing. And I’m not talking about criticism, because that comes with the territory like that. That is what it is like. That’s part of it, I get that. But the narrative doesn’t need to be controlled by people who are just on their keyboards spewing hate and negative vitriol everywhere.”

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Earlier this month WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert received backlash for the way she appeared to side-step a question that addressed racist, sexualized language aimed at players in the league. Players were upset with her comments and spoke out, eventually leading to an apology from Engelbert. Following Wednesday night’s game, Sun forward Alyssa Thomas elaborated on the hateful comments and threats players have been receiving.

“Honestly, it’s been a lot of nonsense. I think in my 11-year career, I’ve never experienced the racial comments from the Indiana Fever fan base … and it’s unacceptable, honestly, and there’s no place for it.” Thomas told reporters. “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, and there’s no place for it.

“And basketball is headed in a great direction, but no, we don’t want fans that are going to degrade us and call us racial names. I mean, we already see what’s happening in the world and what we have to deal with in that aspect. 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.”