Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. This opinion was originally posted on Bounding Into Sports. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Angel Reese took a not-so-subtle jab at fans who criticized her recent New Year’s ‘barely there’ pics by announcing that she was now a Vogue cover girl.
“I ‘covered up’ and gave y’all COVERGIRL,” the Chicago Sky star posted on X and Instagram.
Her comments were a clear shot at critics who were taken aback after Reese posted incredibly revealing pictures on New Year’s Day.
Reese was spotlighted in Vogue along with Paris Olympic hero Gabby Thomas for a piece on the meshing of sports and fashion.
“It’s always been both: basketball and fashion,” Reese told the magazine. “I was always in my mom’s closet, putting on her stuff. I liked to carry a purse. Hair done. I wanted to look put together. I still do.”
She sure does.
Angel Reese Celebrates Vogue Cover
Nowhere did Angel Reese look more ‘put together’ than with her Instagram posts on New Year’s. (As opposed to the Vogue cover where it almost appears as if they photoshopped her eyes to look like a Van Gogh painting).
I mean, my goodness.
The comments from fans and people with a working set of eyes were overwhelmingly positive. For whatever reason, though, Reese appeared to deactivate her account shortly after posting.
It was an odd move from an athlete who generally has no qualms about telling her critics to stick it.
RELATED: Angel Reese Rips Radio Host Who Criticized Her ‘Cheapened’ Outfits: ‘Cry About It’
Complains About Being Sexualized
A case in point, Angel Reese angrily hammered a radio host just a couple of months ago who suggested her increasingly famous skimpy outfits “cheapen” her brand.
A radio producer and personality known as Jelly Santos launched an impromptu attack on the WNAB All-Star, saying she is “acting like a girl with a nice body that don’t know what to do with it.”
“These outfits cheapen her brand. Like she went on some other show and the outfit was so cheap and stupid,” Santos continued. “Like girl get it together man.”
Reese fired back, “CRY ABOUT IT.”
Yet here we are in January, and she has to scrub her social media over what could arguably be perceived as a “cheapened” outfit?
It’s also odd since Angel Reese, with her Vogue magazine cover and her revealing New Year’s outfits, has openly criticized people for sexualizing her.
“I’ve been through so much,” she said after losing to Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa in the Elite Eight of last year’s NCAA Women’s college basketball tournament.
“I’ve seen so much. I’ve been attacked so many times. Death threats. I’ve been sexualized. I’ve been threatened. I’ve been so many things,” she added. “I just want them to just know that I’m still human.”
Indeed.
🔥🚨DEVELOPING: WNBA Star Angel Reese is facing backlash for uploading this video of her New Years Eve outfit. Many of her fans have been urging Reese ‘to put on more clothes’ and it appears Reese responded by celebrating in an extremely clad outfit. pic.twitter.com/nKihi6PXQa
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) January 1, 2025