Angel Reese criticizes media that she claims ‘villainized’ her

Angel Reese on Thursday night said she’s taking her “voice back” to “create the narrative of who I really am” while calling out the media, which she says benefited from her “pain and me being villainized.” 

In a post on social media, Reese, whose rookie season was cut short due to injury, laid the blame for the critical “narrative” around her at the feet of the media. 

“For the past 2 years, the media has benefited from my pain & me being villainized to create a narrative. They allowed this,” Reese wrote on X. “This was beneficial to them. I sometimes share my experiences of things that have happened to me but I’ve also allowed this to happen to me for way too long and now other players in this league are dealing with & experiencing the same things. This isn’t ok at all.

“Anything beyond criticism about playing the game we love is wrong. I’m sorry to all the players that have/continue to experience the same things I have…. This is why I started my podcast. To take my voice back and create the narrative of who I really am. At the end of the day, I don’t want an apology nor do I think this will ever stop but something has to change.”

Reese’s comments come one day after the WNBA posted its own statement over the racist and threatening comments its players have received this season. 

Alyssa Thomas specifically called out Fever fans for the “racial comments” they spewed during the first-round series between the Connecticut Sun and Indiana.  

“I think in my 11-year career, I’ve never experienced the racial comments [like] from the Indiana Fever fan base,” Thomas said Wednesday night. “It’s unacceptable, honestly, and there’s no place for it. We’ve been professional throughout the whole entire thing, but I’ve never been called the things that I’ve been called on social media, and there’s no place for it. Basketball is headed in a great direction, but we don’t want fans that are going to degrade us and call us racial things.”

Reese said in a separate post that she would continue to use her voice to “say what’s right.”

“I’ve never in my life had privilege but I definitely know the power I have through my platform,” Reese also posted. “That didn’t come overnight. I grew that on my OWN. With that being said, I will continue to use my voice in the right way & say what’s right even though it has backfired on me to be this ‘villain’. I won’t stop!!”