Monday, March 18, 2024

Despite Fines, WNBA Players Continue Protest by Refusing to Answer Game Questions (Watch)

Swin Cash
Swin Cash

*After WNBA officials on Thursday fined the organizations and players of the New York Liberty, Indiana Fever and Phoenix Mercury Thursday for wearing black warmup shirts to focus attention on recent police shootings of black men, the protest spirit continued on during the lone game Thursday night.

After the Liberty-Fever matchup, players from both teams (in their respective locker rooms) refused to answer questions related to basketball. Instead, they only wanted to talk about social issues outside of the sport.

With her teammates standing behind her, Liberty forward Swin Cash made a statement about the game, an 82-70 Fever win, and then Tanisha Wright stepped forward.

“We really feel like there’s still an issue here in America,” Wright said. “And we want to be able to use our platforms, we want to be able to use our voices, we don’t want to let anybody silence us in what we want to talk about. So you guys can ask away about anything that’s happening in society.

“It’s unfortunate that the WNBA has fined us and not supported its players.”

Watch below:

Under league rules, the teams failed to comply with the uniform guidelines by wearing the shirts. As such, the WNBA handed each team a $5,000 fine and each player who took part in the protest a $500 fine.

Liberty center Tina Charles made a additional, albeit quieter statement directly after the game when she wore her warmup jersey inside out as she accepted the Player of the Month Award. Later, she tweeted, “I refuse to be silent.”

Briann January, the player rep for the Indiana Fever, spoke on behalf of her team on Thursday, saying it’s upsetting that a league that is made up of predominately African-Americans won’t side with players on an issue that directly affects African-Americans.

Since the WNBA handed down fines to the three teams, other professional athletes have started to speak out in support of the players’ protests, including the New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony.

“I don’t see no reason to fine them. If anything you should want to support them,” Anthony told ESPN Thursday. “I don’t know details, but don’t see a reason to fine them.”

The NBA did not fine any teams or players when many of them wore “I Can’t Breathe” warmup shirts during the 2014-2015 season in protest of the death of Eric Garner.

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