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Breanna Stewart, wife Marta Xargay Casademont got threatening, anti-gay emails after WNBA Finals Game 1, Stewart says
Minneapolis — New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart says she and her wife, Marta Xargay Casademont, received threatening, homophobic anonymous emails after Game 1 of the WNBA Finals.
The emails went directly to Xargay Casademont’s account, which was a bit unnerving for the couple, Stewart said at practice on Tuesday.
“The fact it came to Marta’s email is something she (had to) see. The level of closeness was a little bit different,” she said. “Make sure that myself and Marta are OK, but that our kids are the safest.”
“I think that for Marta, especially, I think it was, it is, terrifying,” ESPN quotes Stewart as saying.
Julien M. Hekimian / Getty Images for NBC Universal
According to ESPN, Stewart and Xargay Casademont have two children: three-year-old Ruby and 11-month-old Theo.
Stewart had a chance to win Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, but missed one of two free throws with 0.8 seconds left in regulation and then a potential tying layup at the overtime buzzer. Minnesota ended up winning the game and now the series is tied 1-1 heading into Game 3 on Wednesday night in Minnesota.
The two-time MVP said she notified the team about the emails and they escalated it to league security.
“We’re taking the proper precautions. I think the threats continue to build after Game 1,” Stewart said. “We love that people are engaged in our sport, but not to the point where there’s threats or harassment or homophobic comments being made.”
The New York Post was first to report the threats.
Stewart said Xargay Casademont filed a complaint with police at the advice of the team and security.
“Being in the Finals and everything like that, it makes sense to file something formal,” Stewart said.
The New York Police Department confirmed that it received a report of aggravated harassment involving emails sent to “a 33-year-old victim.” The department’s hate crimes taskforce is investigating, a spokesperson with the department’s media relations team said.
Stewart said she doesn’t usually look at most of the messages she receives and that they usually go to her agency, but once she was made aware of them by her wife she wanted to let fans know there’s no place for it.
“For me to use this platform to let people know its unacceptable to bring to our sport,” she said.
There have been many more online threats to players through social media and email this season.
“We continue to emphasize that there is absolutely no room for hateful or threatening comments made about players, teams or anyone affiliated with the WNBA,” a WNBA spokesperson said. “We’re aware of the most recent matter and are working with league and team security as well as law enforcement on appropriate security measures.”
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert addressed the rising number of attacks that players have dealt with on social media at her state-of-the league address before Game 1.
She said there’s no place for it and the league will work with the players’ union to figure out what they can do together to combat it.
Engelbert mentioned technology and mental health support.
“It just is something where we have to continue to be a voice for this, a voice against it, condemning it, and making sure that we find every opportunity to support our players, who have been dealing with this for much longer than this year,” Engelbert said.
ESPN reports that Stewart said, “There needs to be a little bit of like a protocol or a thing before the season, because this year, especially … it’s really starting to happen.”
Walt Disney World and Disneyland will soon make skipping the line easier for a limited few willing to pay a hefty sum for the privilege.
The Florida and California resorts on Wednesday unveiled a Lightning Lane Premier Pass alongside the current Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass. Akin to line-jumping passes at rival theme parks, Disney’s new offering will let people into Lightning Lane attractions without having to book ahead.
The passes must be purchased along with the cost of park tickets.
Not every attraction has what Disney calls a “Lightning Lane,” meaning a faster entryway. There are 55 attractions with the quicker lanes at the four Disney World parks and 24 at the two Disneyland parks.
Disneyland
California’s Disneyland is launching its Lightning Lane Premier Pass next week, on Wednesday, October 23. There’s no advance booking ahead of that date for now, but in the future guests will be able to buy the pass up to two days before a park reservation.
Open to all customers on a first-come, first-served basis — but with very limited availability — Disneyland’s pass will include Lightning Lane access at both Disneyland and Disneyland California Adventure on the same day.
For the remainder of 2024, the tab for Disneyland’s pass runs $400 a person, per day. That includes for kids ages 3 and up, as well as adults. The passes will range from $300 to $400 in 2025, depending on the date.
Disney World
Billed as a “convenient way to save time in line,” the Lightning Lane Premier Pass allows one-time entry to each Lightning Lane experience in a theme park, starting Oct. 30, 2024, for guests staying at Disney Resorts and other Disney hotels in Florida.
Guests will be able to buy the passes up to seven days ahead of their visit, except for the launch date, for which no advance purchases are allowed. Disney World’s Lightning Lane Premier Pass will be park-specific, with prices varying depending on the park and date.
Folks can see Lightning Lane pass prices 21 days in advance on Disney World’s app. Here’s a rundown of the cost, per person, per day:
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $129 – $199 plus tax
- EPCOT: $169 – $249 plus tax
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $269 – $349 plus tax
- Magic Kingdom: $329 – $449 plus tax
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Daughter of woman missing since Hurricane Helene searches for closure: “It’s hard to truly grieve”
It’s been nearly three weeks since Hurricane Helene made landfall as a powerful Category 4 storm, plowing through six states in the Southeast.
Officials say dozens of people are still missing as search crews continue to dig through layers of mud and debris. The storm has left at least 244 people dead, most in North Carolina.
Jessica Meidinger’s 58-year-old mother, Kim Ashby, is among the missing. Floodwaters swamped her home in Elk Park, North Carolina, and she was torn from her husband’s arms. CBS News first spoke to Meidinger and her family two weeks ago. She said she now accepts her mother is likely gone.
“It’s hard to truly grieve a person without a body and move on from this,” Meidinger said. “It’s just … we feel stuck.”
Meidinger said the treacherous terrain has hindered the weeks-long search.
“It’s probably 20 miles of river, that there’s just piles of debris all along the way. There’s areas that you basically have to rappel down in order to continue to follow the river, to see if she might be there, and it’s not just piles of debris, there’s just feet high of sediment that you have to dig through.”
On Tuesday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said close to 100 people remain missing statewide. The Department of Public Safety formed a task force to find who is still unaccounted for and focus efforts where needed, Cooper said.
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell previously spoke about the historic flooding in North Carolina from Helene on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” saying, “I don’t know that anybody could be fully prepared for the amount of flooding and landslides that they are experiencing right now.”
FEMA has resumed its normal operations in North Carolina after temporarily relocating amid a reported threat.
Meanwhile, Meidinger said the hardest part will be telling her 3-year-old son, who adores his grandmother.
“I think we’ve chosen not to tell him because to tell him in a way that she’s still missing is not something you can do for a 3-year-old. It’s gotta be pretty finite and that’s … hard enough to explain that someone is no longer with us, but to say that we don’t even know where she is, that’s impossible.”
