Elle Duncan reacts to WNBA players targeted with “misogyny and racism” during Caitlin Clark’s rookie season. (Photos from Indiana Fever and Elle Duncan’s X pages)
ESPN anchor Elle Duncan expressed her disappointment that many WNBA players have faced misogynistic and racist remarks during Caitlin Clark’s historic rookie season. She lamented that what was supposed to be a wonderful year for women’s sports was mishandled by some people.
The veteran sports journalist shared her take on the issue during her appearance on “The Right Time with Bomani Jones” podcast on Wednesday, where she highlighted how discussions about Clark and the WNBA often strayed away from basketball.
“This is like finally heaving a home in the backyard, big enough to entertain more people and then new people who show up to the party showed up with pitchforks and you’re like, ‘Ooh nevermind this was bad. I should have curated this list better.”
Duncan criticized the media’s apparent inclination to focus their hot takes on Clark and Black athletes rather than on basketball itself.
“It’s just kind of damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Instead of hot takes [on basketball], the hot takes solely and explicitly surround all of these Black women vs. Caitlin Clark… That’s what’s been frustrating,” she said.
“So yes, people are going to talk about it more, but oh my god, please just educate yourself so that you can have bad takes that involve basketball and not bad takes that send send racism and misogyny into the timelines of these women. It’s unfair.”
Check out her full comments below:
Despite all the hype surrounding her maiden WNBA season, Caitlin Clark stayed the course and delivered one of the best rookie seasons in league history.
She was named Rookie of the Year after leading all first-year players in scoring, assists and steals with 19.2 points, 8.2 dimes (league-high) and 1.3 swipes in 40 games. She also grabbed 5.7 rebounds, which was third among all rookies. Along the way, she shattered several WNBA records, including the single-season assist record (337 dimes) and the rookie records for total points (769) and 3-pointers made (122).
Caitlin Clark speaks against ‘trolls’ propagating hate in the WNBA
Caitlin Clark said she is aware of the harmful discourse surrounding the WNBA being associated and strongly opposed it.
During the Indiana Fever’s end-of-season press conference in September, the Rookie of the Year took the opportunity to blast “trolls” who spew racist and hateful remarks toward her and her team’s rivals, underscoring that there is no place for such in the WNBA.
The 22-year-old guard said:
“It’s definitely upsetting. Nobody in our league should be facing any sort of racism, hurtful, disrespectful, hateful comments and threats. Those aren’t fans, those are trolls, and it’s a real disservice to the people in our league, the organization, the WNBA.”
Check out what she had to say below:
However, she asserted that there are still true fans in the WNBA and encouraged highlighting the many positive aspects of the league.
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