Some WNBA players act like they are the only ones who receive mean social media messages
On Tuesday, Hilton Grand Vacations announced it had fired the man who allegedly sent a racist message to Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray on social media.
A day earlier, Gray posted a screenshot of the message on Instagram.
"People act like we just make this s--- up," she wrote. "And the audacity to tell us as athletes to 'shut up and dribble.'"
We're not sure how many people accuse WNBA players of making this "shit up." But the fact that Gray felt the need to show the public is part of the story.
Two things are true at once.
First, online hate is unfortunate, and most people wish it didn't exist on the scale it does. Second, WNBA players are hardly unique in receiving it.
One of the strangest developments of the Caitlin Clark era is how some WNBA players speak as if they are the only public figures online trolls target.
They aren't.
Unfortunately, nearly everyone with a public profile receives hate, harassment, trolling, or even threats. Look at my mentions on social media. They're filled with nastiness. It's part of the territory.
"Pretty much daily I get some sort of racist attack via social media DM," sportswriter Jason Whitlock posted on X. "I mute/block and move on. I'm uninterested in seeing people fired."
Search "Caitlin Clark" on X. You'll find endless posts filled with racial slurs and threats. Search "Taylor Swift," "Patrick Mahomes," "Victor Wembanyama," or "Dave Portnoy," and you'll find much of the same.
Again, the difference is the response.
Most public figures understand that attention is the currency trolls are chasing. By contrast, WNBA players like Chelsea Gray, Alyssa Thomas, and Angel Reese make a point of publicizing them.
Thomas has even helped fuel the narrative that commissioner Cathy Engelbert isn't doing enough to protect the league's players.
"We're so concerned about the safety on the court, but time and time again, we're having people threaten our lives," Thomas said. "Leaking addresses out there. Putting crazy pictures that have nothing to do with basketball."
She added: "It's really unacceptable. It's something that needs to change in this league, and I'm just really sick and tired of it."
How, exactly, is a league commissioner supposed to stop anonymous trolls from sending hateful messages? Thomas never explained. Nor have the ESPN analysts demanding Engelbert step in, as if she can somehow patrol social media. They keep demanding solutions for a problem that a basketball league is not capable of solving.
HERE IS THE REAL REASON WHY THEY HATE CAITLIN CLARK SO MUCH | BOBBY BURACK
For the record, if a player believes someone poses a credible threat, they should take it seriously. Like most major organizations, the WNBA likely has a security department that handles threats against its players.
That appears to be what Caitlin Clark did last year, when police arrested a 55-year-old Indianapolis man for stalking her and sending roughly 800 threatening and sexually explicit messages over two years. He has since pleaded guilty to stalking and harassment charges.
Thomas, however, seems more interested in telling the public about alleged threats than pursuing the proper channels. At some point, you have to wonder whether some WNBA players actually welcome these posts because they provide another opportunity to cast themselves as victims.
But WNBA players are not victims. They are products of celebrity.
In many cases, they thrust themselves into the spotlight by targeting, harassing, or repeatedly hard-fouling the league's biggest star, Caitlin Clark. They appear to want all the benefits of fame without any of the consequences. And fame does, indeed, come with both.
Their response to online negativity reminds us of ESPN analyst Mina Kimes.
Two years ago, Kimes accused OutKick of "inciting harassment" after we asked ESPN why she was allowed to violate the company's policy against political endorsements by endorsing Tim Walz for vice president. She responded by posting screenshots of random accounts insulting her.
We acknowledge that some of the comments directed at Kimes were unpleasant. But as an ESPN personality making roughly $2 million a year who chose to use her sports platform to weigh in on divisive political issues, mean tweets hardly make her a victim or prove that OutKick incited harassment.
Perhaps the spotlight isn't for everyone. If WNBA players or Kimes want to step away from high-profile jobs to avoid online scrutiny, we'd understand. We're skeptical they plan to.
Finally, if companies like Hilton are going to investigate and fire every employee who posts something vile online, the workforce could become noticeably thinner.
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Put simply, online trolls survive on attention. They only have as much influence as you give them. The only reliable way to squash them is to ignore them, rendering their words as meaningless as they naturally are.
The troll wins the moment someone with a larger platform broadcasts it. All this does is prove the insult landed.
WNBA players need thicker skin. Increasingly, many of them seem ill-equipped to afford the price of fame they seek.