During a press conference this week, Indiana Fever star guard Caitlin Clark was asked about some racist comments from Indiana Fever fans that were directed at opponents. But the reporter who asked the question admits he made a mistake.
Following this week’s playoff showdown between the Connecticut Sun and the Indiana Fever, Connecticut star Alyssa Thomas called out Indiana Fever fans for racist and hateful comments directed toward her and her teammates.
“I think in my 11-year career, I’ve never experienced the racial comments (like those) from the Indiana Fever fan base,” Thomas said according to the Indy Star. “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.”
Clark was asked her response to these comments by James Boyd of The Athletic, and she gave a pretty firm response.
“It’s definitely upsetting,“ Clark said. “Nobody really should be facing any sort of racism, hurtful, disrespectful, hateful comments and threats. Those aren’t fans, those are trolls.”
“It’s a real disservice to the people in our league, the organization, the players in the WNBA, 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.”
But Boyd admitted that he made a mistake in this press conference by not asking Clark about the hate she received herself.
“I’ll own that I could’ve — and probably should’ve — asked Caitlin Clark about the hate she personally receives. But the reason I didn’t is because she’s repeatedly stated that she leans on are family and close circle to block it out. I dropped the ball, but there’s my reasoning,” Boyd said in a post on X, the social media website that was formerly known as Twitter.
It was clearly a learning experience for everyone.
