Caitlin Clark once again was a headlining topic of conversation this weekend, as the Indiana Fever’s star rookie had a solid outing in a win over fellow rookie star (and rival dating back to their college days) Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky, before scoring just three points in a blowout loss to the Liberty on a back-to-back.
The win over Chicago was overshadowed by a late third-quarter incident in which Sky guard Chennedy Carter knocked Clark down with a forearm shiver as Clark waited for an inbounds pass. That became a multi-day discussion point about Clark’s treatment from other players that continued on Monday as the lead topic for ESPN’s various talk shows. First Take opened the show with 40 minutes of uninterrupted conversation about the WNBA, Clark, and Carter, ending with a rather contentious moment between Monica McNutt and Stephen A. Smith after McNutt called him out for not talking about the WNBA in this same manner until now.
Once First Take was done, The Pat McAfee Show began with a monologue on Clark, in which McAfee took issue with how many in the media are discussing Clark and this WNBA rookie class. McAfee brought out a slide show to try and make his point that race isn’t why Clark is such a superstar as a rookie, insisting that discussion of there being a strong rookie class overall is wrong, but instead there is “one white b***h for the Indiana team who is a superstar.”
Monday's Pat McAfee Show opened with a Caitlin Clark PowerPoint:
"I would like the media people that continue to say, 'This rookie class, this rookie class, this rookie class'. Nah, just call it for what it is — there's one white bitch for the Indiana team who is a superstar." pic.twitter.com/psGNQXts5O
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 3, 2024
That comment quickly made the rounds, and while there’s maybe a salient point somewhere in McAfee’s rambling diatribe, he managed to make sure none of that was considered because of his word choice, sparking yet another round of truly dreadful discourse. For whatever reason, the conversation around Clark has made it so no one can be normal when talking about the start of her career and the challenges she’s facing as a WNBA rookie.
McAfee would later apologize for that word choice on Twitter
I shouldn’t have used “white bitch” as a descriptor of Caitlin Clark. No matter the context.. even if we’re talking about race being a reason for some of the stuff happening.. I have way too much respect for her and women to put that into the universe.
My intentions when saying… pic.twitter.com/F6OHB4gvYh
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 3, 2024
