The Free Press posted an article Tuesday discussing the ascent of “blonde, girl-next-door” female college athletes who are making serious money thanks to name, image and likeness (NIL) deals.
The story was written by Ethan Strauss, a former basketball reporter for ESPN and The Athletic. The premise of the story is that attractive, blonde athletes seem to be landing major NIL deals regardless of performance in their sport.
As part of the story, Strauss interviewed Haley and Hanna Cavinder, who played for Miami’s women’s basketball team. The duo has since departed Coral Gables, opting against using their final years of college eligibility, but landed plenty of NIL deals while they were active college athletes.
The Cavinder twins were upset with how they were portrayed in the story, going so far as to say that the interviews given to Strauss were obtained by “a false pretense.”
Hanna took to Twitter to rip Strauss and The Free Press for the angle of the story and the publication of the piece.
“The interview for this article was obtained by a false pretense that it would be written about our life after NIL, why we didn’t take our fifth year, our passions, and business opportunities,” she wrote. “We were specifically told via the publication the context would be to ‘see the Cavinders as a very important story not only in the context of women’s college sports but the new media culture and business. They’re building a hugely successful brand, and they’re at the forefront of a new space, and we think that’s exciting and newsworthy.’
“We discussed with our team and met the media opportunity openly after reviewing the intentions. Haley and I welcomed this man into our home. He followed us throughout the entire weekend asking us questions and understanding what goes on in our daily lives. After the weekend, we had a sit down interview in our kitchen for over an hour and was only asked one question regarding our ‘physical looks.’
“The subsequent article not only demeaned our athletic and business accomplishments, it furthered the narrative that hard working, creative and driven women can only do well if they are deemed attractive. The piece disregards our work ethic and dedication toward NIL and business endeavors. He fails to acknowledge the young girls/woman [sic] that follow us and that we work so hard to inspire. Instead, he degrades us down to ‘hot girl(s).’ We agreed to do the interview and wanted to support a woman ran news outlet. We are both disappointed and disgusted by this journalism practice and blatant sexist trope. We only wish to inspire young woman [sic] to chase their dreams, work hard, think big. Now we must also defend them against men that wish to sum their potential to physical appearance.”
https://t.co/JLPU6Swa9i pic.twitter.com/WtOp5fYuNx
— Hanna Cavinder (@CavinderHanna) June 13, 2023
Strauss, nor The Free Press, have formally commented on the pushback from the Cavinder twins on the story.
