In October 2024, videos surfaced on social media alleging that the the Chicago Sky fired young WNBA star Angel Reese for using performance-enhancing drugs — without any evidence to corroborate the claim. The assertion was unfounded.
The videos began appearing on Facebook and YouTube on Oct. 14, 2024, with headlines and thumbnails implying that Reese had been taking steroids. Artificial intelligence video-creation tools seemingly helped create the video's narration, scripting and sequencing.
As an example, a video posted by the YouTube channel BasketBuzz claimed:
Angel Reese finally got what she deserved — a termination letter from the Chicago Sky with her name on it, all wrapped up with a nice bow of: "you're fired." You might ask the reason for firing. Well, she got caught juicing up with steroids, and honestly, no one's really shocked. From the start of the season, she's been serving us more drama than basketball games.
Since its upload on Oct. 14, 2024, that YouTube video had been viewed more than 150,000 times, as of this writing.
There was no evidence to support the assertion that Reese was caught using performance-enhancing drugs. If there were even a sliver of truth to the claim, reputable sports media outlets like ESPN or The Athletic would have interviewed parties involved and documented the ordeal. That had not happened.
The claim likely originated in Reese's perceived identity as a "villain" for fellow rookie Caitlin Clark. Clark and Reese were widely advertised as future stars during their college careers, but sometimes, that promotional material appeared to emphasize a rivalry. That framing likely pushed some towards assigning one player as a hero and the other as a villain. The videos sharing news of Reese's purported downfall might appeal to that demographic.
In short, the claim appeared to be made up from whole cloth for the purpose of gaining views online. A disclaimer at the bottom of the BasketBuzz YouTube video read: "This video presents opinions and information sourced from various platforms and does not claim absolute truth."
This was not the first misleading rumor related to Angel Reese that captured social media users' attention. For example, we previously debunked the false claim that Reese lost $50 million in endorsements because of her behavior on the court.