The WNBA has banned Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton for five home games and fined the team after Keaton was caught cursing at several young female Sophie Cunningham fans on Tuesday.
The league has taken action against Keaton and the Storm for the co-owner’s untoward verbal assault on the teenage girls who were in attendance during the Storm’s 105-95 loss to the Indianapolis Fever on Tuesday. The league fined the team and banned Keaton from attending the next five home games, according to Fox News.
The two young fans attended the game to show support for Fever star Sophie Cunningham and held signs thanking the player for “Standing Up for Girls.”
But it wasn’t long before the Storm’s co-owner walked up to them and began cursing them out for daring to support Cunningham.
“Well, we were just sitting there with our signs that said like, ‘We love Sophie,’ like, ‘Thank you Sophie for speaking up,’” one of the young girls told journalist Brandi Kruse, “and so we were holding on, just watching the game, again, like, we were being super great, we hadn’t said anything to anyone else, we were being super respectful, we were just holding our signs and cheering for both teams, and this lady (Keaton) comes up to us.”
“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,” the teen added. “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.”
The girls’ support of Cunningham came after the Fever star revealed in a long profile published by ESPN that she does not support the idea of allowing men who claim to be women to play in women’s sports.
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” Cunningham told ESPN in the interview.
“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,” she said.
“I’m very much in the middle. I agree with things on both sides, disagree with things on both sides. And that’s all I’ve ever said about my political beliefs. But people love to assume,” the 6-foot-1 guard added.
The minute the profile was published, Cunningham immediately became a target of attack by radical, left-wing, transgender boosters.
For its part, the Storm apologized to the girls on Wednesday and disavowed the actions of their co-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.”
Cunningham responded to the attacks her fans suffered and called Keaton’s attack “embarrassing.”
Others also spoke out in support of the teen girls, including Harry Potter scribe JK Rowling and tennis star Martina Navratilova:
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