The WNBA has seen some hard fouls, clutch shots, and heated rivalries, but rarely has it seen the kind of chaos that unfolded after the Indiana Fever’s Commissioner’s Cup clash with the Connecticut Sun in 2025. From Caitlin Clark getting shoved and eye-poked to Sophie Cunningham body-slamming Jacy Sheldon, the game turned into a court-side throwback to the ’90s Bad Boy Pistons era. But even more unexpected? A viral AI-generated video of WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert addressing the chaos, one so eerily believable, it had fans doing double-takes.
And the hook? It actually made more sense than the league’s own silence.
While fans waited for an official WNBA statement, a video made its rounds on X, racking up hundreds of thousands of views. It featured an AI-generated Cathy Engelbert delivering an address so sharply written that many mistook it for reality.
“Good afternoon. We are fully aware that league officiating is a mess. Blown calls, wild inconsistencies, flow-killing, glacially-paced reviews that still end up called wrong, loss of game control that escalates into violence. It’s a bad look.”
The fictional “Engelbert” didn’t stop there. She roasted the league’s inability to adapt to the Caitlin Clark era with stinging precision:
“Our current officials are holdovers from the WBC era—the W before Clark. Back when our main marketing strategy was stapling flyers to phone poles and giving away tickets with combo meals… Then Caitlin Clark showed up, and boom. We went from a corner ma and pa store to McDonald’s overnight.”
The kicker? The AI Engelbert proposed a full-blown overhaul of WNBA referees, complete with Taco Bell vouchers:
“We’ve authorized an immediate nationwide search to find top-tier replacement officials who can handle the pressure, offering a starting pay of $180 per game… and if you grade out consistently, there’s a chance we’ll throw in some Taco Bell certificates.”
ᴬᴵCathy Engelbert holds emergency press conference to address WNBA officiating pic.twitter.com/EXuumNxLEt
— Heavens! (@HeavensFX) June 19, 2025
The AI video might’ve been satire, but the real game was no joke. Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White said she saw it all coming.
“I think it was pretty obvious that stuff was brewing, right?” White said postgame. “When the officials don’t get control of the ballgame… and it’s been happening all season long. It’s not just this game.”
Clark was poked in the eye by Jacy Sheldon, shoved by Marina Mabrey, and the game descended into mayhem. Sheldon, Mabrey, and Cunningham were all eventually ejected. But White, in hindsight, sounded more frustrated than shocked.
“I started talking to the officials in the first quarter. And we knew this was going to happen. You could tell it was going to happen.”
Stephanie White wasn’t alone as her criticism echoed earlier criticism from media figures like Rachel DeMita, who didn’t hold back:
“The problem that a lot of us have with the referees is that it’s either very physical and they are calling everything, or they’re missing calls. There seems to be inconsistencies in how the referees are calling certain games.”
That inconsistency—dangerous in a league growing faster than its officials can adjust—has become a flashpoint in 2025. Just days before the Fever-Sun clash, Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson was elbowed in the head and exited the game. 2X WNBA champion coach Becky Hammon weighed in with unmistakable frustration about the league’s unclear enforcement:
“There are some vicious ones… I know specifically just a couple years ago I thought A’ja took a huge shot and I thought it should have been a flagrant two, automatic ejection… a wind-up elbow or anything like that. Because basically, what’s a flagrant two? Do—feels like the only way you get a flagrant two is to throw a punch and land one. Other than that, it’s just a flagrant one, where I feel like some of these are dangerous plays and have to be looked at.”
So when Caitlin Clark was shoved, poked in the eye, and dragged into escalating physicality during the Fever’s Commissioner’s Cup game against Connecticut, fans expected a league response.
They got one, and although it wasn’t from the league itself, fans had some choice reactions.
Fans React to Ai Cathy Englebert’s Stance on officiating in the WNBA
“OMG I thought that was real for a minute,” one fan exclaimed. And they weren’t alone. The clip, featuring a faux Engelbert roasting the league’s officiating with deadpan precision, struck such a nerve because it echoed exactly what real-life players, coaches, and commentators have been saying for years.
From Kelsey Plum, Becky Hammon, Rachid Meziane, Rachel DeMita, and Rebecca Lobo, to Stephanie White, everyone has voiced concerns about inconsistent officiating. In fact, as early as 2023, stars like Elena Delle Donne and Natasha Cloud had already called for the league to address the problem. So when the AI Cathy said the quiet part out loud, fans could barely tell the difference.
Apr 15, 2024; Brooklyn, NY, USA; WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert speaks before the 2024 WNBA Draft at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Another fan wrote, “Got me until $180 and Taco Bell.”
It was a joke—but an eerily accurate one. According to Sports Illustrated, WNBA referees reportedly earn between $180 to $425 per game, totaling about $16,000 to $50,000 annually. Compare that to NBA referees who rake in $3,000 to $7,000 per game, with yearly incomes between $180,000 and $550,000. The Taco Bell vouchers mentioned in the video may have been satire, but given the pay gap, they didn’t seem all that far-fetched.
One viewer commented, “Dang! I was about to blurt out, ‘It’s about f—- time!’ But then I saw the timestamp and realized it hadn’t gone viral—got suspicious.”
That’s how convincing the video was. And ironically, had they watched until the Taco Bell punchline, they might’ve caught on to the parody. But the fact that so many were duped at first speaks volumes: fans are ready for the league to make a real statement.
Another comment read: “Profitable? Not have a huge fan base? I mean it’s pretty much the same thing but let’s just mention we want profit straight up. I mean, respect? She said all she wanted to say.”
Of course, the commenter missed that the “she” in question was an AI-generated satire. Still, their reaction makes perfect sense—because even in jest, the message resonated with the broader frustrations of WNBA fans who feel the league’s growth is being hampered by subpar officiating and unclear priorities.
“When it’s too good to be true…” another fan wrote.
And yes, it was. But the wild part? It wasn’t that far from the truth. The WNBA may not have released a real statement, but the deepfake gave voice to everything fans and insiders have been thinking. And that’s exactly why it hit so hard.
After all, sometimes the most powerful statements are the ones nobody officially makes—but everyone wishes someone would.
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