Dave Portnoy slams ‘race-baiters’ and ‘fake fans’ in blistering Caitlin Clark defense amid ‘white privilege’ saga

Dave Portnoy has slammed both ‘race-baiters’ in the WNBA and ‘fake fans’ of Caitlin Clark in a blistering defense of the Indiana Fever star.

Clark has been in the headlines of late after being named Time Magazine’s Athlete of the Year, with Washington Mystics co-owner Sheila Johnson claiming afterwards that she was recognized because of her race.

At the same time, Clark was slammed by some fans after acknowledging to Time the ‘privilege’ she had as a white athlete, and how the 28-year-old WNBA has been ‘built on’ black players.

Responding to the fury on both sides, Portnoy said that it was a ‘no brainer’ to give Clark the Time honor and took aim at both sets of critics.

‘Race has become a huge story around her,’ he said in a five-plus minute rant posted to X over the weekend. ‘Not because of her, she’s never commented about it, it’s basically – her greatness has been co-opted by both sides, left and right.

‘You have a lot of jealous basketball players, pundits, whatever, race-baiters, being like: “Oh, the only reason Caitlin Clark is getting all these endorsements, all this attention, all everything is because she’s white.” That’s bulls***, there’s been a ton of white players who were great in the league before her – nobody cared, nobody is showing the same attention. Why?’

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Clark was named the Time Magazine Athlete of the Year after a stellar WNBA rookie season

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And Barstool Sports founder chief Dave Portnoy defended the Indiana Fever star from criticism

Following Time’s recognition of Clark – who won the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year award and helped the league set attendance and TV records – Johnson told CNN that the entire league should have been honored.

‘It’s just the structure of the way media plays out race. I feel really bad because I’ve seen so many players of color that are equally as talented and they never got the recognition that they should have, and I think right now, it is time for that to happen,’ she said.

‘You read Time Magazine, where Caitlin Clark was named athlete of the year, why couldn’t they have put the whole WNBA on that cover and said, “The WNBA is the league of the year,” because of all the talent that we have.

‘When you just keep singling out one player, it creates hard feelings and now you’re starting to hear stories of racism within the WNBA, and I don’t want to hear that. We have got to operate and become stronger as a league and respect everyone that’s playing and respect their talents.’

For her part, Clark said in June that any racist or misogynistic comments against other WNBA players are ‘not acceptable.’

‘People should not be using my name to push those agendas,’ she said.

That segment of her fanbase – which Portnoy called ‘fake fans’ – were seemingly angered by her effort to highlight the efforts of black players in her Time interview.

And the Barstool Sports founder accused them of ‘co-opting’ Clark’s fame.

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The Indiana Fever rookie sparked a massive increase in WNBA TV viewership and attendance

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Washington Mystics co-owner Sheila Johnson questioned why Time singled out Clark

What do you want Caitlin Clark to do? She plays in a league that is predominantly African-American and she wants to maybe show up at work and not have people hate her,’ he said.

‘She wants the league to be successful… This backlash of like, “Caitlin turned on the league, and Caitlin is woke and Caitlin is this” – you f***ers are crazy. And that’s what I hate.

‘This for Caitlin has never been about politics, never been about race, it’s been about f***ing being the best basketball player, female player on the planet and getting everybody into women’s sports and women’s basketball. Everybody around her made it into a race war and she is in a no-win situation.’

He continued, ‘Anyone who’s mad at Caitlin Clark right now for saying she wants to elevate the league, she respects the players that came before them and know that they put in all the work that allows her to be in a professional league… if you have a problem with that, you were never a Caitlin Clark fan and you are part of the problem too.’

Ultimately, Portnoy believes Clark’s fame has ‘absolutely nothing’ to do with her being white, and said ‘she plays totally different than any woman before her.’

‘That’s why she’s so captivating, that’s why the attendance records are up, that’s why the TV records are up,’ he said. ‘It’s all Caitlin Clark. Caitlin Clark put the WNBA on her back. If Caitlin Clark was not in the WNBA, nobody would be talking about women’s basketball, period end of story.’