The person believed to have sent a racist text message to Dearica Hamby of the Los Angeles Sparks late last month has lost her job, the person’s former employer has confirmed. The Athletic on Wednesday.
Acclaro Medical, a medical device company in Smithfield, RI, released a statement alluding to a “deeply disturbing situation on social media.” The company followed up with a statement on Wednesday that read in part: “The matter has since been resolved by the company’s HR and legal teams, and the employee is no longer with Acclar.”
The situation began on August 24, when Hamby posted a screenshot of the offending text message to her verified X account. It read: “Dirty ass n—-. You should be put in a zoo. Animal,” and included a picture of a monkey.
In her post with the picture, Hamby asked: “Does anyone know this number?”
Within an hour of her posting, people responded with biographical details of someone apparently connected to the number in the screenshot. Acclaro Medical has been identified as a possible employer of the message sender.
Wed Aug 25 USA Today reported that Acclaro Medical said the employee has been suspended pending an investigation. When asked for the former employee’s name, Aclaro said The Athletic“We have no more information to add at this time.”
A WNBA spokesperson issued the following statement: “The WNBA stands unequivocally with Dearica Hamby and condemns in the strongest terms the racist abuse directed at her. We are committed to holding anyone who engages in such abhorrent behavior accountable, and this individual will be permanently banned from all league games and events.”
“The Los Angeles Sparks stand unequivocally with Dearika Hamby and condemn in the strongest terms the racist abuse directed at her,” a Sparks spokesperson said in a statement. “This abhorrent behavior has no place in our game or our society. We support the WNBA’s decision to permanently ban this individual from all league games and events and remain committed to supporting Dearica and all of our players.”
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and the leaders of the National Women’s Basketball Association met before the All-Star Game talk about the rise of creepy online messages which players receive. It came in response to multiple players sharing racist and harassing text messages they received this season.
The person who allegedly sent Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray a racist slur in a message on social media was fired by Hilton Grand Vacations in July. Like Hamby, Gray posted a screenshot of the message, and other users online have seemingly tracked down the messenger.
Phoenix Mercury veteran Alyssa Thomas and her teammate and partner DeWanna Bonner also revealed that received racist messages and death threats through social media monitoring Flagrant foul by Tomas on Caitlin Clark during a game against the Indiana Fever in June.
Mercury guard Kali Koper, Minnesota Lynx guard Courtney Williams and Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud also spoke about receiving hateful messages.