Former Sacramento Kings player DeMarcus Cousins is speaking out about the toxic culture within the press in the River City during his tenure with the team, especially during his rookie year. Following the now viral hot mic moment that caught reporters talking about the “attractiveness” of Kings players Ben Simmons and Zach LaVine during the Kings media day, Cousins went on the record on “Gil’s Arena” regarding his thoughts on the matter, and recalled the time one specific reporter would touch him in the locker room and how she apparently had an obsession with his body, even though he was just a teenager at the time. So this type of corrupt [expletive], I’ve seen time and time again.” One former reporter in particular, Ailene Voisin, who worked for the Sacramento Bee at the time, was called out by name.
The Kings Herald asked Cousins on X about the disturbing time that Voisin once touched him in an inappropriate way after Cousins responded “sick times smh” on the video of the recent media hot mic moment. The former NBA star then elaborated on “Gil’s Arena." “I’ve had my own personal experience as far as dealing with the Sac media and feeling violated at the same time,” he recalled. She was a beat reporter when I played there at the time.
In my rookie season, she just had this infatuation about my body, even before I stepped foot in Sacramento. She only reported about my body.” ”She compared me to Oliver Miller and all these overweight type players,” Cousins went to to say. But it was one specific day where she decided to walk up to me and lift my shirt up because she wanted to see what my body looked like underneath my shirt.
Then she went on to write an article about it. So I remember in that moment just kind of feeling like uneasy about it.” During Cousins’ time with the team, it was a known secret that longtime fans caught onto quick -- that Voisin was fixated on his physique. And it wasn’t just Cousins she wrote vividly about.
While a lot of Voisin’s work cannot be found during the time of Cousin’s rookie years, her flowery descriptions tended to lean heavily on purple prose throughout her career as Sacramento reporter.
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