sexism

Basketball Star Confronts the WNBA’s Male Trolls

On Wednesday, Chicago Sky forward Elena Delle Donne scored a career-high 45 points in the team’s 100–96 overtime victory over the Atlanta Dream. Delle Donne made all 19 of her free throws, setting a WNBA record in the process. Yet when SportsCenter tweeted about the game, sexist replies started rolling in. So the 2013 WNBA Rookie of the Year responded to the trolls in a video, borrowing the format from the “Mean Tweets” segment on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

The very original criticisms ranged from slamming women’s athleticism to suggesting that their role is in the home. For example: “I’d rather watch professional lawn mowing.” And: “Better be men’s professional lawn mowing though. The women’s game is fundamentally solid, but there’s no pizzazz.” To which the six-foot-five player responded, “Guess we have no credibility since we don’t dunk every play.” Plus various versions of this: “That doesn’t look like a kitchen to me.” Delle Donne replied: “People are absurd. My God, welcome to 2015.”

It is indeed 2015 and Jimmy Kimmel himself has yet to do a “Mean Tweets” episode with women’s sports, even though he’s done three editions with the NBA, one with the NFL, and one with college football. Hey, Jimmy, why not give these athletes a platform, too?

Basketball Star Confronts the WNBA’s Male Trolls