Following the horrific shooting deaths of Philando Castile in Minnesota, Alton Sterling in Louisiana and five police officers in Texas, WNBA players used their platform to spread awareness and take a stand by wearing altered warmup shirts to rase awareness and support anti-violence movements.
Instead of praising the players and teams for their actions, the WNBA chose to issue fines to three teams (Phoenix Mercury, New York Liberty, Indiana Fever) their players $500.
Following the fines, members of the Liberty and Fever staged a media blackout after Thursday’s game and Minnesota Lynx players called for fans to help “black out” the Target Center on Friday night.
Heading into the Olympic break that will suspend play August 26, WNBA President Lisa Borders issued a statement saying that the league is “rescinding the recently-imposed fines.”
.@WNBAPrez, Lisa Borders statement on recent team and player uniform violation fines. pic.twitter.com/RJMZHQ0htL
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 23, 2016
Terri Jackson, the WNBA Players Union president, responded with a supportive statement on behalf of the players:
“We are pleased that the WNBA has made the decision to rescind the fines the league handed down to the players on the Fever, Liberty, and Mercury. We look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue with the league to ensure that the players’ desire to express themselves will continue to be supported.”
