Following Sunday’s WNBA postseason game between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun, Connecticut star Alyssa Thomas called out Indiana Fever fans for their “racial comments.”
“I think in my 11-year career, I’ve never experienced the racial comments (like those) from the Indiana Fever fan base,” Thomas said. “It’s unacceptable, honestly, and there’s no place for it. 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.”
This week, Clark took a stand against those fans.
“It’s definitely upsetting,” Clark said according to the Indy Star.
“Nobody really should be facing any sort of racism, hurtful, disrespectful, hateful comments and threats. Those aren’t fans, those are trolls.”
Clark was quick to condemn the racist fans, but she also acknowledged that there are plenty of good fans in the WNBA, as well, and those other fans give them a bad reputation.
“It’s a real disservice to the people in our league, the organization, the players in the WNBA,” Clark said. “But there are a lot of really good fans, whether they’ve been fans for 20-plus years or whether they are new fans in our league, I think continuing to uplift this league in a very positive light is the best thing we can do because there are so many great players, so many great teams, so many positive storylines that can be written and celebrated, and for me, that’s why I became a fan of this league because these people were my idols.
“I grew up wanting to be like them, so I think continuing to uplift and represent this league in a positive way is the best thing that we can do.”