South Carolina Hoops Star Claims Racism On ESPY Invite Snub

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Aliyah Boston is the reigning National Player of the Year in women’s college basketball, winning the award unanimously after leading the South Carolina Gamecocks to a national championship.

Those honors afforded her another “honor”; she was nominated for an ESPY. Boston was one of the finalists for “Best College Athlete, Women’s Sports,” though she did not win. Oklahoma softball’s Jocelyn Alo took home the hardware during a special ESPY preview show on Tuesday night.

Boston assumed she would be invited to the awards show, given that she was one of four finalists in her category for an award. However, that was initially not the case. ESPN did not extend her an invitation for Wednesday’s live telecast.

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley brought light to the snub on Sunday, posting on Twitter: "who in the room from decided it was a great idea not to invite ,” she wrote. “There’s definitely something wrong with the make up of the room."

Many believe Staley is implying that the ESPY’s invitational committee does not contain enough people of color, women, or perhaps both.

The pressure from Staley’s tweet caused ESPN and Disney to cave – as they almost always do to woke public pressure. ESPN released a statement to Slate:

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“Due to both COVID restrictions and a new venue with much less seating capacity than previous shows, ‘The 2022 ESPYs’ prioritized athlete invitations to focus on specific awards that will be handed out during the broadcast.”

Despite that statement, ESPN reversed course and invited Boston to the show. However, she declined the invitation, instead electing to play the racism and sexism cards as reasons for the snub.

Boston posted a statement on Twitter that read, in part, “It hurt me more to see ESPN change course and invite me only after social media caught wind of it. I’m used to this. It’s just another moment when the disrespect and erasure of Black women is brushed off as a ‘mistake’ or an ‘oversight.’”

The irony here, of course, is that ESPN bends over backwards to cater to the woke mob and will do everything in its power to come across as “inclusive” and “progressive.”

Turnabout is fair play though, and it seems perfectly fair that they continue to be punished by the masters they are so desperate to serve.

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Dan began his sports media career at ESPN, where he survived for nearly a decade. Once the Stockholm Syndrome cleared, he made his way to Outkick. He is secure enough in his masculinity to admit he is a cat-enthusiast with three cats, one of which is named “Brady” because his wife wishes she were married to Tom instead of him.