Acclaro Employee Fired, Permanently Banned From WNBA Events After Racist Message to Dearica Hamby
A racist message sent to Los Angeles Sparks forward Dearica Hamby has cost the alleged sender their job and resulted in a permanent ban from WNBA games and events after social media users helped identify the person behind the message.
Hamby posted a screenshot to X on Aug. 24 showing a message she said was sent directly to her personal phone number. The message included a racial slur, compared Hamby to an animal and included a monkey emoji.
The WNBA star also shared the phone number connected to the message and asked followers whether they knew who was behind it.
Social media users soon began searching for the sender and connected the number to a person believed to work for medical equipment company Acclaro Medical.
Acclaro Employee Fired After Investigation
Acclaro initially confirmed Aug. 25 that the employee had been suspended while the company investigated the incident.
By Sept. 2, the company confirmed the individual was no longer employed.
Acclaro condemned racism, harassment, hate speech and discrimination, saying the conduct attributed to the employee did not reflect the company’s standards.
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The consequences extended beyond the workplace.
The WNBA said Sept. 2 that it “stands unequivocally with Dearica Hamby” and condemned the racist abuse directed toward her. The league also said the individual responsible would be permanently banned from attending WNBA games and events.
The action falls in line with the league’s broader “No Space For Hate” policies, which prohibit racist, abusive, threatening and discriminatory behavior directed toward players and others associated with the league.
WNBA Players Continue to Report Racist Abuse
Hamby’s experience is the latest in a string of incidents involving WNBA players who say they have faced racist messages, threats and harassment away from the court.
Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray received racist messages in July in a separate incident that also resulted in the alleged sender losing their job after their employer learned of the messages.
Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas has also spoken publicly about receiving racial slurs and death threats following an on-court incident earlier this season.
Those cases have increased attention on the abuse WNBA players can face online and raised questions about how leagues, social media companies and employers respond when harassment crosses from anonymous online activity into identifiable real-world conduct.
