Caitlin Clark speaks out on racist abuse in WNBA and issues heartfelt plea

Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark has slammed racist fans who have been sending hateful comments and threats to WNBA stars

Caitlin Clark has told racist fans who have verbally abused WNBA stars that they are not welcome in the league.

Numerous players from around the league have said they have been receiving hateful comments from the Indiana Fever fanbase during the 2024 season. Those included Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas and Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese.

After Connecticut eliminated Indiana from the 2024 playoffs on Wednesday, Clark, 22, said the discrimination that WNBA stars have received is unacceptable. “Nobody in our league should be facing any sort of racism, hurtful, disrespectful, hateful comments, and threats,” the 6-foot guard said.

“Those aren’t fans. Those are trolls, and it’s a real disservice to the people in our league, the organization, the WNBA.” Clark pointed out that there are WNBA fans who support the league and its players, though.

“But there are a lot of really good fans, whether they’ve been fans for 20-plus years or whether they’re new fans in our league,” she said. “I think continuing to uplift this league in a very positive light is the best thing that we can do because there are so many great players, there are so many great teams.

“There are so many positive storylines that can be written and celebrated. For me, that’s why I became a fan of this league. These people were my idols, I grew up wanting to be like them.

WNBA stars such as Angel Reese (pictured) and Alyssa Thomas have said they’ve been receiving discriminatory comments and threats from Fever fans (
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(Image: Getty Images))
“So, I think that continuing to uplift and represent this league in a positive way is the best thing that we can do.” After the Wednesday loss to the Sun, Fever head coach Christie Sides joined Clark in speaking out against the racist abuse some of the WNBA players have endured.

“Just proud of the adversity these guys went through,” Sides said. “Just the expectations were insane for us to start this season and what people thought we should be doing and just the outside noise that these guys had to endure from game one until now.

“It’s a lot of hurtful speech out there and it’s happening and it’s unacceptable for any of these guys. This is basketball and this is their job and they’re doing the best they can. When it gets personal to me, I mean there’s no reason and these guys have to listen and watch that.”

Last week, Reese opened up about the abuse she’d been subjected to during the 2024 WNBA season. The Sky rookie said the ordeal involved more than just disrespectful comments from Fever fans, revealing some of them sent fake AI images of her in compromising positions to the forward’s family members.

Thomas spoke about her experiences with discrimination in the WNBA after helping the Sun beat the Fever in their first-round postseason matchup. “I think in my 11-year career, I’ve never experienced the racial comments (like) from the Indiana Fever fan base. It’s unacceptable, honestly, and there’s no place for it,” the Connecticut star said.

“We’ve been professional throughout the whole entire thing, but I’ve never been called the things that I’ve been called on social media, and there’s no place for it. Basketball is headed in a great direction, but we don’t want fans that are going to degrade us and call us racial things.