Angel Reese and her Chicago Sky teammates understandably weren’t in the best of moods following Sunday’s 84-71 loss to the Seattle Storm.
But even they couldn’t help but laugh at the awkwardness created by a reporter’s hot mic moment during their postgame press conference.
The incident occurred as Reese, Sky guard Marina Mabrey and head coach Teresa Weatherspoon fielded questions from reporters via Zoom following Sunday’s loss. But as a reporter attempted to ask Reese a question, she was soon interrupted by an unexpected conversation happening on the screen.
“That’s an uncomfortable topic,” one unknown voice on the call stated.
“Excuse me?” Reese replied.
The unknown voice didn’t respond, continuing with his own conversation.
“I never had any interest in being intimate with anyone,” the voice stated, as a P.R. staffer attempted to get the press conference on track.
By that point, it became clear that someone on the call had their device unmuted and was also playing a scene from the TV show The Big Bang Theory. The members of the Sky each appeared baffled, with Reese placing her hand over her mouth in shock, Weatherspoon squinting her eyes in confusion and Mabrey telling the P.R. staffer, “I told you they were being weird.”
Eventually, the entire call was muted for what appeared to be enough time to identify where the unwanted sound was coming from. When the press conference resumed, a reporter asked Reese about breaking Candace Parker’s record for the most consecutive double-doubles in WNBA history as Weatherspoon continued to place her hand over her face in embarrassment.
when you forget to mute your mic during the Zoom call pic.twitter.com/vKDakfXTqo
— DeMel appreciates DeRoz’⁉️ (@MsMeliss) July 8, 2024
Ultimately, this was a harmless mistake, but it’s also fair to wonder how this could still be happening in 2024. At this point, we’re more than four years into Zoom being an integral part of our communication. It’s not like these are the early days of COVID. If you’re still speaking while muted or unknowingly playing a syndicated sitcom on your device while unmuted, that’s on you.
Fortunately, the nature of the of the error was humorous enough that even in defeat, Reese, Mabrey and Weatherspoon couldn’t help but laugh. Plus, as we learned with Luka Dončić, Zoom press conferences aren’t the only ones that get interrupted by sounds that are sexual in nature.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.