Hailey Van Lith gives powerful comments on LA Times column, calling it ‘racist’
LSU Tigers star Hailey Van Lith came to the defense of her teammates following an article in the LA Times that called the team “dirty debutantes,” calling the article racist.
Van Lith explained that the team saw the article ahead of their Sweet 16 game against UCLA. In it, the article essentially made the Bruins out to be heroes while the Tigers were depicted as villains. It was an article that many took issue with as being sexist and racist.
“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.
“A lot of the people that are making those comments are being racist towards my teammates and I’m in a unique situation where I see it myself,” Van Lith added. “I’ll talk trash and I’ll get a different reaction than if Angel [Reese] talks trash. So, it’s really up to me to, it’s not up to me, but I have a duty to my teammates to have their back.”
One of the main lines, which has since been edited out of the article, called the LSU players “dirty debutantes.” The LA Times has also said in a statement that “it did not meet Times editorial standards.”
“Obviously, some of the words that were used in that article were very sad and upsetting. I actually didn’t want us to read the article before the game because hearing stuff like that, it’s not right, and that type of description of us isn’t always motivating I think. Calling us, basically, ‘the dirty debutantes,’ like that has nothing to do with sports and that’s not motivating,” Van Lith said.
“So, I wish we hadn’t read that because it can crush your soul a little bit that someone would ever say that about us that doesn’t know us. But, again, obviously, in my opinion, I know for a fact that people see us differently because we do have a lot of black women on our team who have an attitude and like to talk trash and people feel a way about it, but at the end of the day I’m rocking with them because they don’t let that change who they are and they stay true to themselves. So, I’ll have their back.”
Hailey Van Lith wasn’t the only one critical of the LA Times column. LSU head Kim Mulkey also ripped the piece, while UCLA head coach Cori Close apologized for reposting the article without reading it and went on to say she doesn’t condone racism, sexism, or inflammatory comments.
LSU ultimately beat UCLA to move onto the Elite Eight, where the Tigers will play Iowa in a rematch of last season’s championship game.
Kim Mulkey reacts to LA Times correction, removing ‘dirty debutantes’ line from column
Shortly following the decision by the LA Times to issue a correction and remove the “dirty debutantes” line from the column, Kim Mulkey shared her opinion on the decision.
“You all are going to have to forgive me, I’m old generation, I just don’t spend time reading stuff. Maybe an hour and a half ago, I had someone say the LA Times updated, re-wrote, did something, and they did it at 10 something last night. And I said ‘Okay.’ That was the extent of it,” Mulkey said.
“I’m not sure what the rewrite was, I’m not sure if it was an apology, I’m not sure of any of that. But personally, no one has reached out to me — nor do I require that. I don’t need all that. I just like to recognize when I feel something was done inappropriately to young people that I get to coach.”