Two teenage girls sat courtside at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Tuesday night, July 28, holding handmade signs. One read, "We love you Sophie." The other read, "Thank you Sophie for speaking up for girls." They were wearing XX-XY Athletics shirts — the brand that advocates against transgender athletes competing in women's sports.
A Seattle Storm minority owner walked over and cursed the teen girls out using references to Jesus.
Celeste Keaton, a minority owner of the Seattle Storm, allegedly told the two 16-year-old fans they were "effing insane" during the Indiana Fever–Seattle Storm game, according to multiple reports.
The girls' offense, to be clear, was cheering for Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham. Cunningham has drawn both praise and controversy for publicly opposing transgender inclusion in women's sports — a position shared by a rather sizable majority of the American public, but one that apparently makes a WNBA team owner lose her composure at a pair of high schoolers.
Cunningham herself responded on X, calling Keaton's behavior "truly embarrassing" and adding that it "unfortunately shows the type of leader she is." She reportedly promised gifts to the two fans.
The Storm's majority owner, Ginny Gilder, released a statement attempting damage control: "Everyone who attends a Storm game deserves to feel welcome, and we remain committed to creating an inclusive environment where every fan is treated with respect."
The WNBA confirmed to Yahoo Sports that Keaton has been suspended for five home games and fined an undisclosed amount.
The league has spent years begging for mainstream attention. It got a massive boost when Caitlin Clark arrived and brought millions of new eyeballs. Then it spent the next two seasons alienating those exact fans — the ones who showed up because they liked watching talented women compete, not because they wanted a lecture on gender ideology. The pattern is unmistakable: the WNBA's institutional class resents its own most popular players and punishes the fans who support them.
Five home games. That's what Keaton got for confronting two minors at a sporting event. The league that talks endlessly about empowering women and girls suspended an owner for five games after she berated two girls for supporting a woman. The irony doesn't need commentary. It needs a mirror.
This is a league that has one product to sell — women's basketball — and one customer base that's actually buying. Every decision it makes seems engineered to drive that customer base away. You don't build an audience by telling fans their values are unwelcome. You don't grow a sport by punishing the players who generate the most interest. And you absolutely don't send a team owner to scream at teenagers and then call the resulting press conference an "inclusive environment."