Man Fired After Sending Racist Message to WNBA Star

A former Hilton Grand Vacations employee is finding out the hard way that racist behavior can cost you more than your reputation—it can cost you your job.

The company confirmed Tuesday that it fired the employee after he allegedly sent a racist direct message to Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray following her team’s lopsided 109-75 loss to the Indiana Fever on Sunday. Gray shared a screenshot of the message on Instagram, revealing that the man had called her a racial slur after the game, ESPN reports.

The screenshot reportedly showed that the man’s message read “You suck a-s ugly a-s n-gger.”

Hilton Grand Vacations moved quickly once the message became public.

“The person responsible for posting this information is no longer with the company,” the company said in a statement. “His behavior was in violation of multiple company policies and does not reflect our company’s values in any way.”

While the man apparently believed he could spew racist abuse from behind a keyboard without consequences, his employer clearly disagreed. Instead of waking up to another workday, he woke up unemployed—a reminder that social media isn’t consequence-free.

Gray used the incident to highlight the growing abuse WNBA players continue to face online.

“People act like we just make this sh-t up,” she wrote on Instagram. “And the audacity to tell us as athletes to ‘shut up and dribble.'”

Unfortunately, Gray’s experience isn’t an isolated incident. Just two weeks earlier, Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas revealed she had received death threats and racist messages after serving a one-game suspension stemming from a physical altercation with Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark. Thomas publicly criticized WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, saying the league has not done enough to protect its players from escalating harassment.

The issue has become serious enough that the WNBA and the players’ union included enhanced security measures, stronger technological support, expanded mental health resources, tougher fan conduct policies and an anti-hate initiative in their new collective bargaining agreement reached earlier this year.

“We’re so concerned about the safety on the court, but time and time again, we’re having people threaten our lives,” Thomas said after the incident. “Leaking addresses out there. Putting crazy pictures that have nothing to do with basketball. It’s really unacceptable. It’s something that needs to change in this league, and I’m just really sick and tired of it.”

Gray’s experience is another reminder that while athletes may be public figures, they are not public punching bags. And for at least one person, racism carried an immediate consequence that extended far beyond a deleted social media account.

See social media’s reaction to the incident below.