Fever Crowd’s Cheers for Stephanie White Prompt ‘Fake’ Accusations – “Crowd Was Perfectly Still”

Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White gave an emotionally charged statement about her support for her players.

Fever Crowd’s Cheers for Stephanie White Prompt ‘Fake’ Accusations – “Crowd Was Perfectly Still”

Stephanie White (Image via Brian Haenchen 2/X)

In their previous game, head coach Stephanie White was booed by Indiana Fever fans during the pregame introductions before their battle against the New York Liberty.

That stemmed from the narrative that circulated after their clash with the Chicago Sky. In that game, DiJonai Carrington‘s hard foul on Sophie Cunningham angered many fans.

Her ‘White Privilege’ post on social media added to that fire. But neither of it had anything to do with being White. Instead, her supposed defense of the Sky guard left fans baffled.

They wondered why she would defend another team’s player, especially when her own understudy suffered the consequences. Since then, many have been asking the franchise to dismiss the 49-year-old from her job.

That, along with her rant against her critics, probably led those fans to boo her. However, leading superstar Caitlin Clark was the first to admonish the team’s faithful for insulting her coach. Then, fellow All-Stars Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston joined in to slam those fans who booed White.

Then came their game against the Dallas Wings, and many wondered how the fans would react after all these statements. Video clips from the game show that Fever fans cheered loudly the moment Stephanie White’s name was called out. That suggests they may have taken into account what the players said.

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Fans dispute claims of ‘cheers’ for Stephanie White

The problem with these videos is that fans noticed an anomaly. They pointed out that most of the crowd inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse didn’t seem to be cheering loudly or clapping vigorously, as the video claimed.

They felt that the cheers sounded as if they were artificially pumped through the speakers. Usually, NFL teams are notorious for doing that, especially whenever fans of other teams dominate ticket sales.

In this instance, those on social media felt that the Fever had also used ‘fake cheers’ to show support for Stephanie White, even though the visual proof said otherwise. Check out examples of those reactions below.

Stephanie White may have received the support of her players. But many believe she did not do the right thing by defending DiJonai Carrington instead of admonishing her for the hard foul. Therefore, they believe a lot has to happen for the overall opinion of her to change.

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Stephanie White thankful to players and fans for the support

While most fans had doubts about whether those cheers were true, one fan, Jon Root, was also at the game. He captured a video by himself and confirmed that fans inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse did indeed cheer and applaud Stephanie White. After the impressive win, when reporters asked the head coach about it, she replied:

Caitlin Clark with White
Caitlin Clark with White (Image via Soap Central/X)

It means a lot. We love each other in that locker room. It means a lot to me personally, and anytime you get an ovation from the crowd, it’s nice. Our fans, the true Indiana Fever fans, are amazing. They’ve been incredible to me for a long time… I’m thankful that we can lift each other up when need be, and they have been lifting me up.

Stephanie White replied

The mother of two acknowledged and thanked her players for what they did for her, and also thanked the fans for supporting her. But she did mention ‘true Indiana Fever fans,’ which could be White taking shots at those who claim to be the team’s fans but had other motives behind their ‘fandom.’

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