Former NBA star DeMarcus Cousins wants to see punishment for women reporters who were caught on a live hot mic discussing the attractiveness level of Sacramento Kings players Ben Simmons and Zach LaVine.
The audio of the conversation between the two women and another man in attendance at the Kings NBA media day went viral online Monday, as they were unaware a TV station in the room was broadcasting the dialogue.
Cousins played almost seven seasons for the Kings after being drafted No. 5 overall by the franchise in the 2010 NBA draft, and he says Monday’s viral moment is emblematic of Sacramento media members he labeled as “corrupt” and unprofessional.
I’m not surprised,” Cousins said during an appearance on the Gil’s Arena podcast. “I’ve been one of the main people in the past to talk about how corrupt I felt the media in Sacramento was; how biased, how they do a lot of sh-t behind the scenes that it’s easy to cover up because it’s a smaller town.”
“It’s not as much, you know, attention on the situation,” Cousins added. “So this type of corrupt sh-t, I’ve seen it time and time again and I’m not surprised.”
CBS Sacramento reporter Sara Hodges was alleged to be one of the two women captured in the audio of the viral conversation. A woman thought to be Hodges began the conversation with the two other reporters by mocking what she called a “cringe” answer Simmons gave during his media day appearance.
Simmons had referred to himself in the third person when asked about dealing with past criticism, saying, “That’s being Ben Simmons.”
“That’s being Sara Hodges,” one of the women on the hot-mic audio repeated while another woman is heard laughing at her apparent joke. “Cringe.”
The other woman then replied that Simmons is “lucky he’s so fine” to which the woman thought to be Hodges then says “he’s a good-looking dude.”
“I didn’t notice his skin was so smooth. I’m like, ‘Damn, no tattoos?’” the woman thought to be Hodges continued.
The man involved in the conversation eventually interjects, asking one of the women if LaVine is attractive to her after she said, “allegedly, I like lightskins, I guess.”
The unidentified woman then calls LaVine “hella fine,” while the woman alleged to be Hodges agrees that he is “cute” but that his personality is annoying and he seems like a “prick.”
Audio of the conversation that went viral then ends with the trio of reporters joking that they should rank the Kings players by their attractiveness, with Simmons being above LaVine.
Cousins believes there should be some sort of discipline for the two women media members.
“I’ll go out on a limb and say this: if this was a male in this situation, it would be a real ugly situation,” Cousins said. “And I think it should be handled accordingly as if it was a man.
“Whatever the situation would have been if it was a male talking this way, however you would have handled him, handle these females the same exact way.”
The former Kings center also shared a personal issue he says he experienced as a rookie in Sacramento with a woman media member. Cousins explained that he felt “violated” when former veteran Sacramento Bee columnist Ailene Voisin allegedly lifted up his shirt to examine his body.
“She just had this infatuation about my body. Even before I stepped foot in Sacramento, she only reported about my body,” Cousins said. “She compared me to Oliver Miller and all these overweight-type players. It’s pretty sick.”
“But it was one specific day where she decided to walk up to me and lift my shirt up, because she wanted to see what my body looked like underneath my shirt. Then she went on to write an article about it,” Cousins claimed.
“So I remember in that moment just kind of feeling like uneasy about it, but I was 19, 20 at the time so I didn’t necessarily know how to handle it.”
Cousins, a four-time All-Star, was traded from the Kings to the New Orleans Pelicans in February 2017. The former Kentucky Wildcats product last played in the NBA with the Denver Nuggets in 2022.
Despite being almost a decade removed from his final game on the Kings roster, it is clear that there is still no love lost between Cousins and some members of the Sacramento media.
“It’s a lot of unprofessionalism. It’s a lot of bias. It’s a lot of vendettas,” Cousins said. “I’m just glad that it’s some light finally being shined on the situation, and hopefully the the people up top handle it accordingly and professionally. That’s all I ask.”
None of the reporters allegedly involved in the viral hot-mic conversation from Monday’s Kings media day have made a public statement. The team has also not commented on the matter.
