Retired US footballer Megan Rapinoe shouts out WNBA star Angel Reese for recent anti-cyber-bullying campaign (Image credits: Imagn)

WNBA rookie Angel Reese recently appeared in a video for the Chicago Sky as part of the team’s #PostUpPositivity campaign, drawing praise from former US footballer Megan Rapinoe. Earlier this month, a new video featuring the young star was published on the Sky’s YouTube page. In it, Reese can be seen on her phone, while comments from critics online are read out.

The camera then pans over to the court, where Reese can be seen breaking through the criticism while blocking shots, passing to teammates, and scoring buckets.

At the end of the commercial, a statistic is shown indicating that 87% of female athletes experience online harassment, before then revealing that the Sky are using AI to cut out the hate. The team has created an AI program that detects and eliminates negativity from players’ feeds, allowing them to focus on basketball.

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The ad caught the attention of Rapinoe and WNBA legend Sue Bird, who discussed it on their podcast, A Touch More, with Rapinoe praising Reese:

“They’re saying awful things in there about you personally, and that’s just unacceptable. Like, we’re playing sports. This is just a game. And we need to be kinder to each other. So I love Angel for this. This is really cool. Using her really big platform to combat it.

“-I mean, the racism the sexism the homophobia, all of it in there for female athletes is crazy. So this is really cool from Angel. Shout out Angel.”

Looking closer at the new anti-bullying campaign launched by Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky

As previously mentioned, Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky have launched The Net, described by the team as a network of mental health support in sports. The campaign partnered with a company named BarkleyOKRP, with the two sides putting together an AI tool that removes negative comments on social media.

According to The Net’s website, takeittothenet.com, so far the tool has blocked 454 posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, in real-time, allowing players to focus on the positive aspects of social media.

BarkleyOKRP group creative director Rony Castor spoke briefly about the situation while promoting the partnership, as relayed by Marca:

“Our developers were shocked at the level of hate that Angel receives. It’s alarming and heartbreaking.”

In addition, Chicago Sky CMO Tania Haladner explained that as more and more fans begin to pay attention to the WNBA, an uptick in haters is sure to follow. Because of that, and the previous hate Angel Reese has received online, the franchise has decided to get proactive about blocking out negativity.

As Reese previously revealed while speaking with media members back in April, after winning the 2023 NCAA March Madness tournament, she began to receive a tremendous amount of hate online, including death threats.

Thanks to The Net, now Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky players will be able to focus on the positive aspects of social media rather than the criticism.