LA Sparks center denies Australian media reporting that she used racial slurs

WNBA player Liz Cambage is denying allegations that she referred to members of the Nigerian national women’s team as “monkeys” during a scrimmage prior to the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021.

In a statement posted on Instagram on Sunday, Cambage, an Australian whose father hails from Nigeria, said she had not used racial slurs toward the Nigerian team. 

“I did not use the racial slur towards the Nigerian team that has been circulating,” said Cambage, who did apologize for a physical altercation that took place during the scrimmage between the Australian and Nigerian teams.

“After I unintentionally fouled a Nigerian player on court I was then physically assaulted by this player on the sideline of my bench,” Cambage wrote.

“I was hit in the face and pushed to the ground but I walked away. Prior to the game I asked to sit out because I was concerned about my mental and physical health, which I have addressed publicly.”

“This is not an excuse or justification to the events that unfolded or my actions, however, I feel that a full picture of the environment that led to this outcome must be shared,” she added.

The Los Angeles Sparks center’s remarks come after Australian news outlet The Daily Telegraph obtained a video on Sunday that showed a Nigerian player being elbowed by Cambage during a closed scrimmage between the two national teams last year prior to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which took place in 2021 after being rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The physical altercation reportedly continued with another Nigerian player being slapped by Cambage before, according to the Telegraph, she shouted racist obscenities toward them.

“Go back to your third-world country,” Cambage reportedly told the Nigerian team, also referring to them as “monkeys,” according to the Daily Telegraph. Several unidentified Nigerian players confirmed to the newspaper that the incident happened. 

“That’s what I recall, the term monkeys, yes. And go back to where you came from,” one Nigerian national team player told The Daily Telegraph. “She definitely did use monkeys or monkey.” 

The reported altercation led the scrimmage to be called off early by Australian team officials.

ESPN reported last November that Cambage wasn’t fined or suspended for the incident after Australia Basketball had an independent panel investigate the matter. 

This comes after Cambage, a four-time WNBA All-Star, previously said at a media conference that the Australian national team never protected her or wanted her to be “the best she can be.”