Several Chicago Sky players took to social media this week with troubling claims of harassment, but a video that surfaced from the alleged interaction has raised some questions.
Chicago rookie Angel Reese and a few teammates said a person with a camera harassed Sky players as they were getting off the bus at their team hotel Wednesday, presumably in the Washington, D.C., area ahead of their Thursday game against the Washington Mystics. Reese, Michaela Onyenwere, Isabelle Harrison and Brianna Turner all wrote on X that players were harassed and that the behavior from the reporter crossed the line.
One 19-second clip that surfaced on social media shows a man politely asking Chennedy Carter if Carter has reached out to Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark to discuss the incident in which Carter aggressively shoved Clark. A Sky staffer cut the reporter off.
“Miss Carter, have you gotten a chance to reach out to Caitlin? Have you gotten a chance to reach out to Caitlin?” the person taking the video asked. “Chennedy, have you gotten a chance? The basketball world wants to know have you gotten a chance to reach out to her.”
Angel Reese and a bunch of other players on the WNBA's Chicago Sky claimed that they were "harassed" while getting to their hotel in DC.
Turns the "harassment" was a guy politely asking a question to the chick that hipchecked Caitlin Clark.
They demand to be treated the same as… pic.twitter.com/ygBuXuMtca
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 6, 2024
Onyenwere claims the video did not tell the whole story. She says the reporter was vulgar and demeaning toward the players.
“Interesting how the video posted was edited and doesn’t include when he harassed our staff while calling us ‘ghetto b******’ and saying ‘women’s sports isn’t s***.’ We are not about to normalize things like that,” Onyenwere wrote in a follow-up post.
Interesting how the video posted was edited and doesn’t include when he harassed our staff while calling us “ghetto b******” and saying “women’s sports isn’t s***”.
We are not about to normalize things like that.
— Michaela Onyenwere (@monyenwere_) June 6, 2024
That raises another big question. If the reporter made a vile comment toward the Sky players like calling them “ghetto b–ches,” why did Reese and her teammates not mention that when they initially took to social media to vent about the incident? Every player who originally posted about the interaction — including Onyenwere — ripped the reporter for crossing boundaries because of the setting, not what was said.
You would think at least one Sky player would have mentioned the vulgar comments before the video surfaced, as that would have been the most noteworthy part of the interaction.
One thing is for certain: Reese and the Sky have drawn plenty of media attention lately.
