The players of the Chicago Sky were greeted by a man with a camera when they arrived at their team hotel in Washington, D.C., Wednesday before their Thursday game against the Washington Mystics.
Sky’s general manager, Jeff Paglioccaconfirmed to ESPN that the man was trying to approach Chennedy Carter, whose flagrant foul against the rookie point guard Indiana FeverCaitlin Clark, on Saturday, has been the subject of extensive debate over the past few days.
Pagliocca said team security de-escalated the encounter and police were not called.
A video of the incident was posted on X on Wednesday night, but was later removed. Sky forward Michaela Onyenwere wrote in a post on X that the video was edited and did not include the man directing racist and misogynistic comments at the players.
Several other Sky players posted on X about the incident.
“WOW! Thank GOD for safety,” forward Isabelle Harrison posted. “The harassment of my teammate in our hotel is crazy. I couldn’t even get off the bus!”
“Finding out our team hotel was occupied with a camera when we were getting off the bus and shoving it in my teammate’s face and HARASSING HER is a DISGUSTING JOB,” forward Angel Reese posted. “This is truly out of control and needs to STOP.”
“We have security, and they did a great job calming the situation and protecting us,” Onyenwere posted. “It’s still extremely strange and crosses boundaries by meeting us just as we get off the bus.”
“I was not present for the previous interaction, but what happened is not acceptable,” forward Brianna Turner posted. “I didn’t realize that when we said ‘grow the game’ that would be interpreted as harassment of female players in hotels…Yes, we travel (fortunately) safely, but the absurd headlines of late have certainly created an unstable environment for our security.
