Dawn Staley calls out ESPN as ESPYs invite controversy escalates

Controversy surrounding the upcoming ESPY awards is continuing to escalate, with South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley calling out the decision not to invite some key female athletes.

Aliyah Boston, who is nominated for Best College Athlete, was not invited to the event.

“Not one person was able to see the uproar this would cause?” she wrote. “There’s definitely something wrong with the make up of the room…the fight continue…”

The fact that Boston wasn’t invited is further heightened by the fact that Paige Bueckers, who won the same award last year, was invited and highlighted the disparities Black women face in media coverage during her acceptance speech.

Others not invited include Caprice Dydasco, who is up for Best NWSL Player, and her fellow nominees. Last week, NJ/NY Gotham FC tweeted out their excitement before also calling out the lack of invites.

“We are once again asking ESPN to invite Caprice Dydasco and all of the NWSL nominees to the ESPYs,” they wrote.

Others, like Diamond DeShields, are nominated in non-gender categories. But DeShields, who is nominated for Best Comeback Athlete, also called out disparities — this time by Google. Under her category, only the three male athletes were listed.

“Hey WNBA partner Google…it’s kinda hard for people to know that I’m also a nominee in this category if my name won’t populate in the search results,” she wrote. The issue has since been fixed.

Other nominees include Oksana Masters, Suni Lee, Candace Parker and Katie Ledecky, who are all competing for Best Athlete, Women’s Sports.

The ESPYs are set to take place on July 20.