Fame and attention are fickle, a reality that is exacerbated by the digital age we all live, breathe, and work in day in and day out. Perhaps no one in the WNBA is feeling that more than the StudBudz — aka Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman — who have found themselves embroiled in unexpected controversy only days after a glorious run at the All-Star Game.
Williams and Hiedeman won hearts and minds last week when they launched a 72-hour livestream via Twitch and took fans behind the scenes of their own lives and at All-Star. And while there were a few snags (the duo were accused of outing at least one couple among other things), the experience was largely a massive hit.
Those good vibes came crashing down around the pair on Wednesday, July 22, after Williams mentioned they're open to bringing Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy onto their show. Portnoy has courted a lot of controversy throughout his career, and has drawn the ire of many WNBA fans for his repeated attacks aimed at Chicago Sky star Angel Reese, something that began when Reese was still a student at LSU and has persisted ever since (as recently as July 19 Portnoy wrote on X, "I hate (sports sense) Angel Reese. Hate her. That’s how much it pains me to admit how brilliant it was for her team to trademark Mebounds and make it her thing. Brilliant. I hate how brilliant it is").
Portnoy is also a major fan of Caitlin Clark, and presumably his "hatred" of Reese stems from the so-called rivalry between the two — but it's still deeply appalling for a 48-year-old man to hold so much animosity for a 23-year-old, and that seems to be at the heart of the worries StudBudz fans are directing at Williams and Hiedeman.
The StudBudz situation could have been prevented
While there are a lot of factors at play when it comes to conversations surrounding the StudBudz and Portnoy, there are a few that really stand out: it's possible Williams and Hiedeman, who are building their brands and understandably interested in maximizing every opprtunity they can in the league, hope to establish a business relationship or partnership with Barstool. That doesn't mean that fans shouldn't voice their concerns, and it doesn't invalidate anything that fans are saying — but it does offer one potential window into what Williams and Hiedeman might be thinking.
There's also a larger issue: many players in the WNBA lack representation and management, or when they do have agents and managers, they aren't necessarily the most qualified. While teams have their own media and PR departments, that's not the same as an individual player having a team who can offer them training for how to handle situations like this, as well as how to handle feedback from social media (including positive and negative comments and messages).
That can create a perfect storm of players doing their best to make a name for themselves on and off the court, businesses and brands trying to cash in on a hot product, and fans offering their opinions online. Without the proper media training and protection, it's all too easy for a good thing to go bad. The StudBudz have plenty of time to turn the ship around and address the concerns of their fans, who also have to accept that Williams and Hiedeman ultimately will make decisions that they feel are best for themselves and what they're building, and they have the right to do so.