A WNBA Co-Owner Allegedly Cursed Out Two 16-Year-Olds. Fox Covered It All Week. CNN Didn’t Touch It.
Two teenage girls went to a WNBA game holding a sign that thanked a player for “speaking up for girls.” A team co-owner allegedly cursed at them, invoked God, and told them she hoped they’d be forgiven. The league suspended her five games. Fox News gave the story wall-to-wall panel coverage. CNN, according to a conservative media watchdog’s own review, never mentioned it.
The underlying incident is a private sports-league personnel matter with no government official involved. What makes it a story about media, not just basketball, is what happened next: which networks decided it was news, and which ones decided it wasn’t.
- 5 games the home-game attendance ban the WNBA imposed on Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton — ESPN, Yahoo Sports
- 16 the age of the two fans Keaton allegedly confronted and cursed at — Washington Times
- Undisclosed the dollar amount of Keaton's league fine — not released by the WNBA in any source reviewed — ESPN
On Tuesday, July 28, 2026, the Seattle Storm hosted the Indiana Fever, who won 105-95. Two 16-year-old fans in the stands wore “XX-XY Athletics” shirts and held signs reading “We love you Sophie” and “Thank you Sophie for speaking up for girls” — a reference to Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, who has publicly opposed transgender women competing in women’s sports.
According to the girls’ account, first reported by independent Seattle journalist Brandi Kruse, Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton confronted them directly. “We were shocked,” one of the girls said. “It’s disappointing, too. She is also a woman. And she just kind of cussed out two 16-year-olds.” Keaton is reported to have called the girls “f—ing insane,” then added, “I hope Jesus can forgive you” and “God can save you.” Keaton is a minority co-owner of the Storm, married to fellow co-owner Lisa Brummel; she has not publicly disputed the account.
The Storm apologized the next day through majority owner Ginny Gilder: “We are aware one of our co-owners made comments to two fans in attendance at last night’s game. We apologize that this happened… we remain committed to creating an inclusive environment where every fan is treated with respect.” Cunningham posted her own response on X the same day, calling the incident “truly embarrassing” while extending an olive branch to the girls themselves: “Bravo to those girls for standing up for what they believe. You’ll be hearing from me soon.”
I truly believe there is a safe space and love for EVERYBODY. Biological girls, biological boys, trans women, and trans men. Everyone is welcome at my table! You can disagree and still be kind. Bravo to those girls for standing up for what they believe. You'll be hearing from me soon💕 yay for gifts. Truly embarrassing of the co-owner. Unfortunately shows the type of leader she is.
On Thursday, July 30, the WNBA league office confirmed a five-home-game attendance ban and an undisclosed fine against Keaton. No fine amount has been reported anywhere. The Storm issued a second statement: “We respect the league’s decision to fine and suspend co-owner Celeste Keaton.” Commissioner Cathy Engelbert was not quoted personally in any coverage reviewed — the discipline was announced as a league-office decision. Keaton has not issued a personal statement or apology in any source found.
Per Newsbusters’ review, the story ran across nearly every Fox News opinion program the evening of July 30: Laura Ingraham used the incident to argue the WNBA is “only inclusive when you agree with certain causes”; Hannity’s panel, featuring commentator Sage Steele, called out what she described as the “irony” of an owner accused of harassing teenagers over their support for a female athlete; The Five and Gutfeld! both worked the story into their evening rundowns.
Women’s-sports activist Riley Gaines weighed in publicly, framing the episode as self-defeating for the league. Independent commentary channels picked the story up within a day of the suspension — a sign the story traveled well past Fox’s own programming.
“Nothing inspires young girls to play sports like an owner of a professional women's team cursing them out for acknowledging there are only two sexes and each is worthy of equal opportunities.”
Riley Gaines · women's sports advocate
Newsbusters’ central claim — that CNN never touched a story with clear news value, a suspended team owner, an on-record apology, and a viral video — is Newsbusters’ own monitoring finding, not something this outlet independently verified against CNN’s air-check logs. Treat it as their claim, sourced to their methodology. What is independently verifiable is the volume gap: ESPN, ABC News, Yahoo Sports, the Washington Times, Deseret News, National Review, and multiple local outlets across two states all covered the suspension directly. If CNN genuinely ran nothing, that’s a real gap in a story with a clean local-news hook, a national sports-league discipline decision, and a viral clip — not a story that needed a political angle to be newsworthy.
A team co-owner allegedly told two teenagers she hoped Jesus could forgive them, the league suspended her, and the Storm apologized on the record. None of that required a political lens to cover — ESPN, Yahoo, and half a dozen local newsrooms managed it without one. The story worth watching isn’t which network mocked the co-owner hardest. It’s which one decided a suspended team owner and two teenagers, one of them in tears, weren’t news at all.
