Caitlin Clark attacked by OutKick founder Clay Travis over controversial ‘white privilege’ comments
Caitlin Clark understands that there’s a legacy that she’s following in the footsteps of when she joined the WNBA. But when she chose to acknowledge those who built the league she’s dominating, some who initially heralded her success grew angry.
After being named Time Magazine’s ‘Athlete of the Year,’ Clark praised black women who helped grow the league into what it is now at a gala dinner in New York on Wednesday.
‘I feel like I always have had good perspective on everything that’s kind of happened in my life, whether that’s been good, whether that’s been bad and then obviously coming to the WNBA — like I said, I feel like I’ve earned every single thing that’s happened to me over the course of my career,’ Clark told NBC Sports host Maria Taylor, who moderated their conversation.
‘But I also I grew up a fan of this league from a very young age. My favorite player was Maya Moore. I know what this league was about … it’s only been around 25-plus years, and so I know there has been so many amazing black women that have been in this league — and continuing to uplift them is very important and that’s something I’m very aware of.’
In her interview for the article published in Time, Clark also recognized that, ‘as a white person there is privilege. A lot of those players in the league that have been really good have been Black players. This league has kind of been built on them.’
Clay Travis, the founder of conservative sports site OutKick, re-posted a video of Clark at the gala and shamed her for her comments.
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Caitlin Clark has been bombarded with criticism from right-wing voices for her acknowledgement of the Black players who built the WNBA and her own white privilege
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OutKick’s Clay Travis mocked Clark, saying that ‘Her race has nothing to do with her talent’
If Caitlin Clark insists on thanking people for the WNBA legacy she joined, why doesn’t she thank the NBA players who have spent 25 years subsidizing the WNBA, a league that has still never made a single dollar in profit?,’ Travis wrote in a series of tweets.
He continued: ‘The WNBA had a big decision to make with the Caitlin Clark phenomenon. They could let her take the WNBA to her level of popularity or drag her down to theirs. They chose the latter. I don’t think this is going to end well.’
Travis concluded: ‘Whoever is advising her on this is running the 2018 woke, white privilege playbook. That sports era is dead. Especially for her fans and the new fans she brought to the WNBA. Just truly awful advice. Her race has nothing to do with her talent. Sports is the ultimate meritocracy.
Travis has slammed the WNBA multiple times in the past – once famously proposing a bet that a high school boy’s state championship team of his choosing could beat the WNBA’s then-champion Las Vegas Aces back in 2023.
He has also suggested that Clark was a victim of discrimination because she’s, ‘a white heterosexual woman in a Black lesbian league… They don’t like her cause she’s white and they don’t like her cause she’s straight.’
Travis wasn’t the only one criticizing Clark – with fellow conservative commentator Megyn Kelly blasting her for ‘apologizing’ for being white.
Clark responded to those comments herself and doubled down on her support for Black players in the league.
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