The Seattle Storm have issued an apology to two teenage girls who were verbally and profanely harassed and cursed by the team’s co-owner, Celeste Keaton.
The incident occurred Tuesday night when the Indiana Fever took on the Storm at Climate Pledge Arena. The teenagers were in attendance to support Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who recently took a stand against allowing males to compete in girls’ and women’s sports.
The girls held a sign thanking Cunningham for “Standing Up for Girls.”
This apparently enraged Keaton, who approached the pair and let loose a foul-mouthed tirade, calling the girls “f*cking insane.”
As one of the girls described it to podcaster Brandi Kruse, “Yeah, I’ve never been yelled at like that. I mean, I’ve had people hate me on the internet, but like it doesn’t really affect me as much because it’s just people online,” she said. “But that just took me by surprise because I thought she was going to be nice and then she starts like screaming at us and cussing at us.”
On Wednesday, the Storm apologized for the actions of their belligerent owner.
“We are aware one of our co-owners made comments to two fans in attendance at last night’s game,” said Majority Owner Ginny Gilder in a statement released by the team. “We apologize that this happened. Everyone who attends a Storm game deserves to feel welcome, and we remain committed to creating an inclusive environment where every fan is treated with respect.”
ESPN ran a feature last week where Cunningham opined on the topic of transgender athletes’ participation in sports.
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” she said. “I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
The harassment from the Storm’s owner wasn’t the only incident encountered by Cunningham’s young supporters. An adult male and woman also accosted the pair, telling stadium security to “take out the trash.”
It’s unclear whether Keaton will face any disciplinary action from her team or the league.