Former NFL Star Points Out ‘Error’ in Angel Reese’s Rant About WNBA’s Rising Popularity

Angel Reese recently caught the eye with a bold rant about the WNBA’s rising popularity. However, her words did her more harm than good, resulting in her catching strays in public. One such incident occurred when Robert Griffin III, a former NFL star, pointed out the mistakes in her statements to devalue her stance.

Griffin had initially stumbled across a short video of Reese’s rant on X (formerly Twitter). Her words in that abbreviated interview clip didn’t sit right with the 34-year-old, prompting him to declare, “If she changed that “because of me” to “because of all of us”, the whole WNBA would have been rocking with her”. 

If she changed that “because of me” to “because of all of us”, the whole WNBA would have been rocking with her. https://t.co/SqCc4WyXTK

— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) June 4, 2024

His displeasure majorly circled Reese’s attempt to shift the spotlight onto her. After all, the latter outlined the 2023 NCAA Basketball Tournament Final between her LSU and the Iowa Hawkeyes as a key reason behind everyone’s rising interest in women’s basketball.

Shedding light on her contributions to the league’s surge in popularity, the Chicago Sky rookie mentioned, “I’ll look back in 20 years and be like the reason why we’re watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person. It’s because of me, too. I want y’all to realize that”.

From this viewpoint, Griffin’s comments seemed justified. He consequently demanded Reese to respect her contemporaries in laying down the foundation for the league’s success alongside her.

However, the former NFL star had misread her statement to a certain extent. While interpreting Reese’s words from the short clip, Griffin failed to grasp that the WNBA rookie had given deserving credit to her colleagues. As a result, his words seemed biased against the 22-year-old, garnering a negative response from the viewers.

Subsequently, he owned up to his mistake by uploading the rest of Reese’s rant. It captured her giving props to her contemporaries as well as the retired icons of the game, showcasing her gratitude for their contributions. Circulating this video online, Griffin wrote, “Turns out Angel Reese did end up saying “because of all of us” so the whole WNBA is rocking with her. This part was edited out of the viral clip”.

https://twitter.com/RGIII/status/1797835296773714182?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Luckily for both parties, the controversy didn’t exceed from here. Yet, it gave rise to a forgettable instance for both sides, providing a glimpse into the downside of voicing critical opinions in the modern day.