Angel Reese has blasted the media for villainizing her and benefitting from the Chicago Sky rookie’s ‘pain.’
‘For the past 2 years,’ she wrote on X, ‘the media has benefited from my pain & me being villainized to create a narrative. They allowed this. This was beneficial to them.’
Reese had a disappointing ending to her first WNBA season, which ended with a wrist injury earlier this month. The Sky ultimately finished out of the playoff picture.
But the former LSU star was not bemoaning her team’s disappointment or losing AP Rookie of the Year honors to Caitlin Clark. Instead, Reese is upset with the treatment that she and other players have faced in what has been a wildly profitable year for the WNBA.
‘I sometimes share my experiences of things that have happened to me but I’ve also allowed this to happen to me for way too long and now other players in this league are dealing with & experiencing the same things,’ Reese wrote.
Reese attends the game between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers
Reese made a long social-media statement about her role as a ‘villain’ in basketball
‘This isn’t ok at all,’ she continued. ‘Anything beyond criticism about playing the game we love is wrong. I’m sorry to all the players that have/continue to experience the same things I have.’
Reese ended her post by plugging her new podcast, which she sees as a way of interacting with fans without the filter of the media.
‘This is why I started my podcast,’ she wrote. ‘To take my voice back and create the narrative of who I really am. At the end of the day, I don’t want an apology nor do I think this will ever stop but something has to change.’
Reese’s post comes an hour after another social-media message in the same vein, with clearly an important topic on her mind.
‘I’ve never in my life had privilege but I definitely know the power I have through my platform,’ Reese said. ‘That didn’t come overnight. I grew that on my OWN. With that being said, I will continue to use my voice in the right way & say what’s right even though it has backfired on me to be this “villain”. I won’t stop!!’
Reese has been at the forefront of the rise in popularity of women’s basketball, pictured as one of Clark’s main rivals.
It was during the 2023 NCAA championship game between Clark’s Iowa and Reese’s LSU where the now-Sky star pointed to her ring finger in Clark’s face after the Tigers had secured the victory.
