An employee of Hilton Grand Vacations is now a former employee after the company fired him for sending an allegedly racist message to Las Vegas Aces player Chelsea Gray.
On Monday, Gray took to her Instagram account and posted a screenshot containing the message, which showed a fan calling her a racial slur.
“People act like we just make this sh*t up,” she wrote in the post. “And the audacity to tell us as athletes to ‘shut up and dribble.’”
On Tuesday, Hilton Grand Vacations announced that they fired the employee responsible for sending the slur to Gray.
“The person responsible for posting this information is no longer with the company,” the company said in its statement. “His behavior was in violation of multiple company policies and does not reflect our company’s values in any way.”
Gray said she received the message from the fan after her team’s 109-75 loss to the Indiana Fever on Sunday.
The issue of WNBA players receiving racist messages from fans was raised weeks ago by Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas. Who, after she drove her fist into Caitlin Clark’s neck and kneed her while she was down, complained about racist taunts online and blamed the league for not doing enough to stop them.
“We’re so concerned about the safety on the court, but time and time again, we’re having people threaten our lives,” Thomas said on June 30. “Leaking addresses out there. Putting crazy pictures that have nothing to do with basketball.”