WNBA investigating fans’ racial comments at Angel Reese around Caitlin Clark foul

The fallout from the Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese clash Saturday continues to grow. That game, part of the WNBA’s season-opening weekend, wound up as an easy 93-58 win for Clark’s Indiana Fever over Reese’s Chicago Sky. But it came with controversy, especially around a Clark flagrant foul on Reese and corresponding technical fouls on Reese and Indiana’s Aliyah Boston afterwards. And the WNBA put out a statement Sunday saying they’re looking into “hateful fan comments” at that game:

Updated statement from the WNBA: pic.twitter.com/SJ0uRrEX3J

— Annie Costabile (@AnnieCostabile) May 18, 2025

Doug Feinberg of The Associated Press reported Sunday, citing a source, that this investigation is specifically about racial comments directed at Reese:

The WNBA is investigating racial comments directed toward Angel Reese by fans during the Chicago Sky’s loss to Caitlin Clark and the Fever at Indiana on Saturday, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on Sunday on condition of anonymity because the league had not publicly identified who the taunts were directed toward or who made the allegations.

“The WNBA strongly condemns racism, hate, and discrimination in all forms — they have no place in our league or in society,” the league said in a statement. “We are aware of the allegations and are looking into the matter.”

What’s interesting, though, is that the WNBA’s initial statement (as quoted there) left it absolutely wide open what allegations they were investigating. That even sparked some discussion this was around something on-court, such as Clark’s foul on Reese. And that prompted notes from reporters such as Feinberg and Front Office Sports’ Annie Costabile citing sources to clarify what was going on:

Sources with knowledge of the situation say this statement is in response to allegations of racial comments directed at Angel Reese by fan(s) in the crowd.

It is not in response to the take foul that was upgraded to a flagrant 1. https://t.co/Zft4hfVUAC

— Annie Costabile (@AnnieCostabile) May 18, 2025

Also adding to this, the players’ union, the WNBPA, put out a statement after that initial WNBA statement referencing a league investigation into “hateful comments”:

The WNBPA has issued its own statement which says the WNBA is investigating reports of “hateful comments” at yesterday’s Sky vs Fever game. pic.twitter.com/0XEJn2u4PM

— Annie Costabile (@AnnieCostabile) May 18, 2025

Racial comments from fans towards players are certainly a matter worth investigating. That’s been done by many teams and leagues, sometimes with long-ranging consequences for the fans involved. And it makes sense for the league to do that after reports alleging those kinds of comments, and for the union to support that to defend their players.

But when leagues launch an investigation, they should be very clear just what the scope of that probe is. They weren’t in this case, and that led to misinterpretations before reporter intervention and the later updated statement. And that fits into quite a line of WNBA messaging, especially around racial discussions, (and hateful racial comments, well-established around Reese and the Sky in particular) that could have been better.