In March, as part of the WNBA and its players’ union’s new collective bargaining agreement, the league sought to enhance security, improve technological support, and enforce a stronger fan code of conduct, while protecting players through a focused anti-hate campaign.
Hilton Employee Who Sent Racial Slurs To Chelsea Gray Fired
As racial slurs on social media and illogical racial divides created by fans and media intensify, Hilton Grand Vacations has fired the employee who allegedly sent a racial slur to Las Vegas Aces “pointgawd” Chelsea Gray, following the team’s 109-75 shellacking it took from Caitlin Clark’s Fever.
The company told Front Office Sports that the fan’s “behavior was in violation of multiple company policies and does not reflect our company’s values in any way.”
Gray, a 33-year-old, six-time WNBA All-Star, posted the message she received on her Instagram story on Monday to prove to fans that players such as Alyssa Thomas and Courtney Williams aren’t lying when they talk about death threats and insults towards them on social media.
“People act like we just make this s— up,” Gray added alongside the screenshot of the slur. “And the audacity to tell us as athletes to ‘shut up and dribble.'”
Plot Twist: Perpetrator Revealed As Nick Schreiber, A Paige Bueckers Fan
Hilton Grand Vacations released a statement on Tuesday that the person who sent the DM is now a former employee of Hilton Grand Vacations.
“The person responsible for posting this information is no longer with the company,” Hilton Grand Vacations said in a statement. “His behavior was in violation of multiple company policies and does not reflect our company’s values in any way.”
While Gray received plenty of support from fans and players condemning the message sent by a man identified by BSO and other outlets as Nick Schreiber, it appears that people immediately started associating him with the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark, assuming this is the type of action expected from their fan base. The WNBA star’s fans have been at the center of blame for the increase in racial slurs, attacks from sports gamblers and bots that incite division among various comment sections.
Indiana Fever Fans Take Credit For Exposing Guy Who Sent Racial Slurs To Aces Player
“Ironically it was Fever fans investigating him that led to actual consequences. Meanwhile the journalist lazily peddled an inaccurate association to Fever fans while doing no due diligence or pushing for a resolution,” one fan said.
“The guy who sent Chelsea Gray that racist message comment is clearly a Paige Bueckers fan who is from Texas and a sports better, so she needs to make a statement about her RACIST FANS!!!” one fan captioned on X.
Clark fans are the masters of deflection, and in this case, they went hard to protect “basketball royalty,” as Dick Vitale described her.
Were Indiana Fever Fans Clout Chasing?
Some fans took exception to Indiana Fever fans taking all the credit for exposing the culprit.
“It was a bunch of different fans, I don’t know why Fever fans are trying to take credit for it,” one fan posted on X.
“That’s on the prof journalist… was happy to leave it uninvestigated after insinuating it was a Fever fan,” another netizen said in response.
It was a no-win situation for the perpetrator. Too many sides benefited from his being exposed. Clark fans and fans of Gray teamed up to also contact his job and demand a call to action, which swiftly led to his dismissal.
Now Indiana Fans are pounding their chests and patting themselves on the back for getting the guy who disrespected Gray fired. It wasn’t because they were trying to help Gray. They took opportunity to prove that other players have just as racist and offensive fan bases.
Especially in the aftermath of Courtney Williams saying she received hate messages that suggested she was to blame for a lost prop bet and Alyssa Thomas’ accusations of death threats.
Measures by the WNBA, to stop fans from making racial slurs and offensive comments to players, especially about bets is a bold undertaking. Many were skeptical as to how they would be able to keep track of every derogatory remark. It seems that fans are now in a war with themselves to prove which fan base is more racist. What a time in the WNBA.
