LA Times apologizes to LSU for ‘dirty debutantes’ reference

ALBANY, N.Y. (WVUE) - LSU Women’s Basketball Coach Kim Mulkey blasted a recent Los Angeles Times article that characterized her team as “dirty debutantes,” and “villains.”

Mulkey denounced the article as sexist. The newspaper later edited portions of the piece, citing removal of inappropriate and offensive language.

The opinion piece was released prior to the Lady Tigers’ matchup, framing the Sweet 16 matchup between LSU and UCLA as a battle of good versus evil.

“How dare people attack kids like that?” she said Saturday. “You don’t have to like the way we play. You don’t have to like the way we trash talk. You don’t have to like any of that. We’re good with that. But I can’t sit up here as a mother and a grandmother and a leader of young people and allow somebody to say that.”

The Times removed the offensive references late Saturday and added an editorial note acknowledging that the article did not meet the publication’s standards, and issued an apology to the LSU basketball program.

UCLA coach Cori Close apologized on social media for retweeting the column, saying in part: “I would never want to promote anything that tears down a group of people in our great game.”

Mulkey said Sunday she was only generally aware of the response to her comments a day earlier.

“I had someone say the LA Times updated, rewrote, did something, and they did it at 10:20 last night or 10 something, and I said, OK,” she said. “That was the extent of it.”

The column’s author, Ben Bolch, posted what he called “a long overdue apology” on social media later Monday, saying he had “failed miserably” in his choice of words.

Mulkey’s players praised her Saturday for letting them be themselves on and off the court, with Angel Reese labeling herself and her teammates as “good villains” who are changing the game and supporting each other.

Hailey Van Lith told reporters Sunday that includes when they have to deal with bigotry.

“We do have a lot of Black women on this team, and unfortunately, that bias does exist still today, and a lot of the people that are making those comments are being racist towards my teammates,” said Van Lith. “I’m in a unique situation where I see with myself, I’ll talk trash and I’ll get a different reaction than if Angel talks trash. I have a duty to my teammates to have their back. Some of the words that were used in that article were very sad and upsetting.”

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Mulkey reiterated Sunday that she would not read another newspaper article over which she threatened to file a defamation lawsuit.

She was the subject of a profile published Saturday in The Washington Post in which family members and former players are quoted about her personality and how she runs her basketball program.

Mulkey’s father and sister are quoted as saying they have not talked to Mulkey in years while others suggest she was uncomfortable at best with the LGTBQ+ community, including some of her own players.

“The lawyers will review it, and when this season is over, they’ll give me a call and say, this is our next step,” Mulkey said Sunday. “I’m not reading that stuff.”

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