Credits: USA TODAY Sports
Women’s basketball is experiencing a golden phase, there’s no denying that. The recently concluded NCAA tournament and the WNBA Draft were some of the most widely watched events in the history of the sport, indicating the growing popularity and interest in Women’s basketball and its brightest stars. However, there’s an ugly side to all this as well. And it seems to be creeping in at a moment when these talented women are enjoying the fruits of their prolonged labor.
The recently drafted Chicago Sky star, Angel Reese, recently took to X to express her disappointment regarding this unfortunate trend and urged people to protect young women in sports. She wrote, “protect young women in sports!!!” For those who don’t know, a lot of fake, AI-generated, NSFW images of several young female athletes, including Reese, have been circulating on the Internet recently. The people making these images get the benefit of anonymity on the internet and use it to harm the reputation of these athletes.
protect young women in sports!!!
— Angel Reese (@Reese10Angel) April 22, 2024
Reese taking a stand against the shameless act of these individuals really highlights the importance of taking a stand against such malpractices. Moreover, she is not the only one who has faced this. Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd, and many others have been victims of this in the recent past. The 21-year-old has been very vocal against such acts and thinks that “creating fake AI pictures” is “weird AF.” Unfortunately, people aren’t rallying behind this cause as much as they should. In fact, some are even willing to promote this creepy behavior without anonymity.
Antonio Brown’s vulgar tweets targeting Caitlin Clark
When women’s sports is finally getting the attention and recognition it deserves, one would assume that someone like Antonio Brown would appreciate the revolution. Unfortunately, the Super Bowl Champion is too busy posting vulgar tweets on the internet about the women at the helm of this movement. Recently, he posted a series of disgusting tweets about the number one draft pick for the Indiana Fever, Caitlin Clark.
Cracker of the Day #CTESPN
Blocked by Cousin It 💈 pic.twitter.com/niS6YA0845
— AB (@AB84) April 18, 2024
Brown reached a new low in his internet troll persona with posts such as, “Caitlin Clark looks like she keep it hairy” and “Mel Gibson NIL razor deal with ManScaped coming.” Despite these personal attacks, Clark showed great maturity in handling the situation and blocked the former NFL star instead of engaging with him in a virtual battle.
Fans will be eagerly waiting to see what kind of actions are taken to limit such disgusting behavior against female athletes.
Prateek is a Senior NBA Writer for The SportsRush. He has over 900 published articles under his name. Prateek merged his passion for writing and his love for the sport of basketball to make a career out of it. Other than basketball, he is also an ardent follower of the UFC and soccer. Apart from the world of sports, he has followed hip-hop religiously and often writes about the origins, evolution, and the biggest stars of the music genre.
