Sheryl Swoopes, a legend in the Women’s National Basketball Association, has embroiled herself in controversy once again.
Swoopes earned headlines in recent weeks when she insisted that Iowa Hawkeyes phenom Caitlin Clark doesn’t deserve the praise she’s getting for breaking numerous records within women’s college basketball.
Clark most famously broke the NCAA women’s career scoring record on Feb. 15th.
Speaking on an episode of Gil’s Arena, a podcast hosted by NBA legend Gilbert Arenas, Swoopes defending herself from criticism that her comments about Clark were racist.
“For people to come at me and say that I made those comments because I’m a racist. First of all, Black people can’t be racist, but that’s the farthest thing from my mind,” Swoopes said.
“I grew up in a very small West Texas town — predominantly white. My best childhood friend is white. Went to a predominantly white college. Won a national championship [and] pretty much everyone on the team was white. We’re sisters to this day. That’s not a part of my DNA.”
Clark, for her part, did not immediately respond to the initial comments or the following defense made on Gil’s Arena.
The Hawkeyes women’s basketball team is next in action Sunday when they look to avenge a previous road loss to Ohio State at home.
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