Atlanta Dream Under Fire After Co-Owner's Caitlin Clark Fan Comments, Sky Disrespect
The Atlanta Dream drew the ire of many within the women's basketball community on Tuesday — and it had nothing to do with the players on their roster.
The scrutiny started with former WNBA player and current Atlanta Dream vice president, part-owner, and investor Renee Montgomery trying to expose Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark's fanbase for their treatment of Sky rookie Angel Reese during the most recent episode of her "Montgomery & Company" podcast.
"That ain't a representation of us," Montgomery said about Clark fans. "Y'all not like us. They not like us... A diehard [Atlanta] Falcons fan can HATE the [New Orleans] Saints. But they would be going a little bit too far if they created nude AI pictures of Saints players and then sent them to the Saints' players' families. That's what Caitlin stans have done to Angel Reese."
Reese claimed Clark's fanbase created naked AI photos of her and sent them to her family in the first episode of her "Unapologetically Angel" podcast.
While there's no question this is vile and unnecessary behavior, fans are upset because Montgomery is massively over-generalizing with her comments. It's not like every person in Clark's fanbase is guilty of this. The majority of them solely show their support and enjoy watching Clark perform on the court, which Montgomery never addressed during her rant.
"Caitlin, unfortunately for her, this is a group that is attached to her... it seems that they have found a home in this fanbase," Montgomery added.
"Something sinister is happening online with Caitlin's fanbase and these stans that needs to be addressed," she said.
On @MontgomeryCoPod I address Caitlin Clark Stans. A hit dog will holla pic.twitter.com/UZDmiqnlqa
— Renee Montgomery (@ReneeMontgomery) September 17, 2024
There's also the fact that Clark has been victimized by similar behavior among other fanbases; most of whom engage in similar tribalistic behavior that Montgomery is chastising Clark's fanbase for. But Montgomery doesn't acknowledge this.
In addition to their co-owner's comments, the Dream were also criticized for disrespectful social media posts they made of the Chicago Sky after defeating them Tuesday night.
One since-deleted post included a graphic of Sky guard Chennedy Carter (who didn't play in the same due to injury) with the Sky's logo edited to read 'Cry'.
they deleted but don’t forget the official Atlanta Dream account posted a tweet to clown Chennedy Carter, who didn’t even play in the game and who has a bad history with the team. Same Atlanta Dream who had a co-owner denounce toxicity in fandom today https://t.co/L2xnKy1bXa pic.twitter.com/ngkNjnihFo
— correlation (@nosyone4) September 18, 2024
Fans found this post hypocritical, considering what Montgomery said about toxic fanbases that same day.
The Dream didn't delete another post of Sky guard Michaela Onyenwere looking dejected on the sidelined once Atlanta's win was at hand last night, which appeared to be them rubbing in their victory (against an extremely short-handed Sky squad) to an excessive degree.
https://t.co/Rl8ihOlxqa pic.twitter.com/AwNHQjQDi8
— Atlanta Dream (@AtlantaDream) September 18, 2024
While the Dream are now positioned to make the playoffs, they lost in the eyes of the women's basketball fanbase yesterday.
GRANT YOUNG
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.