Hailey Van Lith drops her take on LA Times preview calling them "villains": "Some of the words were very sad and upsetting"
LSU Tigers star Hailey Van Lith defended her teammates after an article in the LA Times allegedly called the team "villains." Talking to the media, Van Lith said that her teammates saw the article before their Sweet 16 matchup against the UCLA Bruins.
In the article, "Commentary: UCLA-LSU is America's sweetheart vs. its basketball villains," the Bruins were essentially called America's sweethearts. Meanwhile, the article criticized the assertive playing style of the LSU Lady Tigers, coached by Kim Mulkey.
When asked about how she felt about the LA Times report, Hailey Van Lith gave her honest opinion. She said that it is painful to watch her other teammates get targeted.
"I think there's a lot of situations that play into it," Hailey Van Lith said. "But I think we do have a lot of black women on this team. We do have a lot of people that are from different areas and, unfortunately, that bias does exist still today."
"Obviously, some of the words that were used in that article were very sad and upsetting ... Calling us, basically, 'the dirty debutants,' like that has nothing to do with sports and that's not motivating."
Apart from Hailey Van Lith, Kim Mulkey also reacted to the article
Hailey Van Lith wasn't the only critic of the LA Times article. LSU head coach Kim Mulkey also spoke out against it. In a postgame interview following the Lady Tigers' win against the Bruins in the Sweet 16 game, the head coach slammed the story, believing it crossed a line by being sexist and wrong.
"I'm not going to let sexism continue. And if you don't think that's sexism, then you're in denial. How dare people attract kids like that," Mulkey said.
She was further offended by the description of her team because, apart from using words like "dirty debutants," the Tigers were also called 'sports villains' and 'hot sauce,' while UCLA was portrayed as saintlike.
After receiving much criticism, the problematic words were removed from the story.