Paige Bueckers has spoken out for the first time since the unauthorized posting of non-consensual photos of the UConn star occurred on April 21.
“The devil works hard but God and the people around me work WAY harder. The outpouring of love and support from the WBB community is unreal. Love yall. Support women in sport ALWAYS🫶” Bueckers wrote in an X post on April 23, which currently has 2.6 million views.
Bueckers’ post doesn’t allude to the scandal explicitly. But many believe it was a reaction to the altered photos of her and fellow basketball icon Caitlin Clark.
Heavy was not able to confirm the authenticity of the alleged images. Posts on social media viewed by Heavy indicate the photos of the basketball stars began surfacing on X on April 21, with users claiming to have links to view the images. Posts on a subreddit dedicated to Clark and to posting photos of WNBA players were removed for violating the social media site’s rules.
A message on a subreddit dedicated to Bueckers now reads, “r/paigebueckers is banned
This subreddit was banned due to a violation of Reddit’s rules against non-consensual intimate media.”
Bueckers is a 22-year-old guard on the UConn women’s basketball team. She averaged 21.9 points per game last season for the Huskies. And she is currently projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, according to multiple outlets.
Social Media Rallied Behind Bueckers
On April 22, WNBA and women’s college basketball fans flooded social media with positive posts of Clark and Bueckers. This was part of an effort to make the unauthorized photos harder to find.
HBCU Go sideline reporter Courtney Tate posted, “To everyone who flooded the Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers search with their highlights this morning, thank you. To the few weirdos in this world, y’all are sick.”
One such post came from X user @MichaelWaterloo, who reposted a video of Bueckers’ 2021 ESPYs speech, after she won the ‘Best College Athlete, Women’s Sports’ award.
Bueckers’ speech was praised for how she addressed racial bias in women’s sports.
“With the light that I have now, as a white woman who leads a Black-led sport and is celebrated here, I want to show a light on Black women,” Bueckers said. “They don’t get the media coverage that they deserve.
“They’ve given so much to this sport and the community and society as a whole and their value is undeniable,’ Bueckers added. “In the WNBA last season, the postseason awards, 80% of the winners were Black. But they got half the amount of coverage as the white athletes.
“I think its time for change, sports media holds the key to storylines. Sports media and sponsors tell us who is valuable. And you have told the world that I matter today.”
Angel Reese Came To Bueckers And Clark’s Defense
Chicago Sky rookie and former LSU standout Angel Reese defended her peers via X on April 22.
“protect young women in sports!!!” Reese wrote, in a post that currently has 7.3 million views.
Reese then retweeted another X user who wrote, “We want all women to feel safe, loved, & respected. But y’all really gotta start listening when black women say ‘HEY THIS IS HAPPENING…’ Cuz that girl JUST sat her behind up there & told yall she was being sexualized.”
This post alludes to an April 2 quote from the LSU superstar. After her last college game, Reese said, “I’ve been through so much. I’ve seen so much. I’ve been attacked so many times. Death threats, I’ve been sexualized, so many things and I’ve stood strong. Every single time. I just try to stand strong for my teammates because I don’t want them to see me down and not be there for them.”
Now Reese and the rest of college basketball are working to ensure the same doesn’t happen to Bueckers and Clark.
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This article was originally published on Heavy.com
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