The NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player of 2023, LSU Tigers superstar Angel Reese, has recently opened up about the unrelenting chastisement she has encountered since taking the Tigers to win a national championship.
SEC Player of the Year, Reese, suffered from abuse and insults that were racist and sexist in nature and a collegiate player enduring criticism has brought attention to the loopholes the culture currently goes through, especially considering athletes.
"I just try to stay strong… I've been attacked so many times. Death threats, I've been sexualized, I've been threatened… I'm still human. All this has happened since I won the national championship & I haven't been happy since then."
– Angel Reesepic.twitter.com/fIvQWtefnx
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 2, 2024
.@andraya_carter reacts to Angel Reese's comments about criticism she's received after the Elite Eight. pic.twitter.com/MxKzVl981Y
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) April 2, 2024
She recently revealed what she was going through during the press conference of the Elite Eight matchup against Iowa and the impact the resentment had on her. Fox Sports 1 analyst Emmanuel Acho had shared his opinions considering what Reese earlier revealed.
He shared via Awful Announcing’s Sam Neumann, “Angel Reese, you can’t be the big, bad wolf but then kind of cry like Courage the Cowardly Dog. Because if you want to act grown, which she has; if you wanted to get paid like you’re grown, which she has; if you wanted to talk to grown folks like you grown, which you told a coach from an opposing team, ‘Watch your mouth.’ If you want to tell people get your money up, then postgame, when you take an L, you just gotta take it on the chin.”
He further continued, “Nobody mourns when the villain catches an L. And Angel Reese, you have self-proclaimed to be the villain. Shoutout to you because you’re the second-best basketball player on the court, and it was not close. Outside of Caitlin Clark, it was you…Absolute dog, but you can’t under any circumstance, go to the podium and now try to ask for individuals to give you sympathy. Nobody has sympathy for the villain. You painted the bullseye on your back. Why are you surprised when people shoot at you? So, if you want to act grown, if you want to pose grown, if you want to talk grown, if you want to talk to grown folks grown, then you gotta take the L like you grown. Because what frustrated me is you want to be the villain, but you want to hope for sympathy like a hero.”
Black women have historically been the most marginalized group in America, but I’m going to give a gender neutral and racially indifferent take on Angel Reese:
“In sports, you can’t act like the big bad wolf, then cry like courage the cowardly dog.” pic.twitter.com/aUtxZ7JHk4
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) April 2, 2024
However, Acho’s “gender-neutral and racially indifferent take” for Reese has come under criticism from prominent media personality broadcaster Taylor Rooks of Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football, Turner Sports, and Bleacher Report. She precisely lambasted the remarks made by former linebacker turned analyst Acho, which also received condemnation from fans.
Rooks in a lengthy message stated in her post, “Respectfully, colleague – The disappointing thing about this take is you actually can’t have an informed opinion on this if you are choosing to be gender neutral and racially indifferent. Because that is impossible. Her existence as a black woman shapes both how she is seen by others and how she sees the world. And in this case how she is seen by you.”
“Your response here is actually full of opinions that indirectly (and directly) involve both race and gender. It’s just coded to unsuccessfully soften the blow. You have to ask why Angel became the villain. You have to ask why her role as ‘villain’ has not allowed her to also be human. You have to wonder why her being asked a question and simply answering has led to this level of discourse.”
“You have to ask what you mean when you say Angel wants to talk grown or pose grown?? What is ‘grown’ a substitute for? You have to ask why trash talking – a practice many athletes engage in – is seen so much harsher when it comes from someone that looks like her. You have to ask how some of the ideas you expressed fuel the fire of the aforementioned marginalization. You have to ask why you heard her discuss unacceptable treatment and your reaction was to discuss how she can’t address it. And I have to ask if you spoke to any black women athletes about their experiences in order to give a more enlightened take before you came and said this.”
She further continued, “Angel has absolutely made herself a public figure and she should be open to the criticism pertaining her game and persona. She should also be allowed to express when those criticisms are out of bounds. Why did you cling to her reaction as opposed to the vitriol that caused it? She certainly does not deserve sympathy for losing a game. She deserves sympathy for being attacked and targeted for things outside of said game.”
“As much as you believe this to be a take without bias, your reasoning proves the point you are fighting against. Opinions are opinions, and everyone is entitled, but our opinions are shaped by the paradigms we know. I hope no one says they are taking out gender and race, because in a black woman’s world, we do not have that choice. I hope you realize your luxury and privilege by being able to say what you said. I hope you look around and notice the people that have delighted and applauded seeing a black man get on television and give THIS opinion on a young black woman. Because it’s not for the reasons you think.
That’s my take.”
you start this tweet off talking about the marginalization of Black women & then use your platform to contribute to it. missed the point. being a competitor doesn’t supersede Angel being treated as a human — you don’t get control women’s emotions to make it easier to respect them https://t.co/fU5D82tVCn
— Ashley Nicole Moss (@AshNicoleMoss) April 3, 2024
She never asked for sympathy on the court. She just asked to be treated like a human off of it. https://t.co/kE62uPmYiv
— Torrey Smith (@TorreySmithWR) April 3, 2024
Reese has been considered one of the top-notch players in women’s basketball and of the LSU Tigers, who won 2023’s National Championship under decorated head coach, Kim Mulkey. The prominent player has recently declared for the WNBA draft as well.
