As a Timberwolves season-ticket holder, Sabrina Hiller attended a meet-and-greet with the team's players in December. The St. Paul native, like a lot of Wolves fans, gravitated toward Anthony Edwards as a favorite player because of his charisma and star potential on the court.
But as someone who is pansexual, Hiller was disappointed when Edwards released a video on his Instagram account in September that contained homophobic remarks toward a group of men. She saw Edwards' public apology at media day and wanted to share some thoughts with him. She got the chance to take a photo with Jaden McDaniels and Edwards, and the interaction then made her feel "a lot better" about her fandom of the player and the team.
"I said, 'Thank you for your apology, I hope you continue to work on it … continue to prove us right and do right by us,' " Hiller said. "He said, 'Oh, for sure.' It was that interpersonal communication I was able to have with him [that] helped a lot."
"Just that little moment with Ant was enough for me."
Hiller hopes to be in attendance Wednesday when the Wolves take on Portland in their annual Pride Night game. But this Pride Night is unlike any other in the team's recent history because it comes against the backdrop of two significant actions that affected the team's relationship with its fans who identify in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. First was Edwards' video, then came center Rudy Gobert's Twitter like of an Elon Musk tweet that mocked the use of personal pronouns, which are important to the trans community.
Along with his apology, Edwards also pledged to work in the community, to do "whatever it takes," to repair the damage he caused.
On Monday, he encouraged LGBTQ fans to attend the game.
"Come support," Edwards said. "You know, what I did is behind us. It's all love. Just come support, man. Have fun at the game and I'm going to put on a show for you guys."