Speaking during the Wednesday, May 22 broadcast of ABC’s “The View,” co-host Sunny Hostin claimed that part of the reason for Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark’s success and popularity is that she has “white privilege” and “pretty privilege.” She is one of numerous people who have tried to downplay Clark’s popularity and sponsorship success by pointing to her race.
In fact, Hostin’s claim came as the co-hosts of “The View” spoke about the argument made on the subject by former ESPN personality Jemele Hill. Hill, speaking to the LA Times, said that part of the reason Clark is so popular amongst the women’s basketball-watching public is that she is straight and white, even going so far as to call her immnse success and impact “a litte problematic.”
Hill said, “We would all be very naive if we didn’t say race and her sexuality played a role in her popularity.” She continued, “While so many people are happy for Caitlin’s success — including the players; this has had such an enormous impact on the game — there is a part of it that is a little problematic because of what it says about the worth and the marketability of the players who are already there.”
Hill wasn’t done. She continued, “It’s not jealousy. It’s just the fact that in our society, Black women are often erased from the picture. While Caitlin Clark’s success should be widely celebrated, there are various points where we have seen dynamic phenoms and how they have been able to popularize the game. It’s just that, for whatever reason, could be race, could be gender, could be a myriad of factors, that same marketing muscle that seems very intentional about making sure that Caitlyn Clark is a superstar was missing for them.”
Hostin, agreeing in some respects with Hill, said, “I do think that there is a thing called pretty privilege. There is a thing called White privilege. There is a thing called tall privilege, and we have to acknowledge that, and so part of it is about race, because if you think about the Brittney Griners of the world, why did she have to go to play in Russia? Because they wouldn’t pay her.”
Hostin also said, earlier in the broadcast of “The View,” “Now, Caitlin Clark is bringing this money, these sponsorships, we hope, into the league and other players will benefit from it. But I do think that she is more relatable to more people because she’s White, because she’s attractive, and unfortunately, there still is that stigma against the LGBTQ+ community. Seventy percent of the WNBA is black. A third of the players are in the LGBTQ+ community and we have to do something about that stigma in this country. I think people have a problem with basketball playing women that are lesbians. Who cares? They are great athletes.”
Shockingly, Whoopi Goldberg was the voice of reason on the show, arguing that Clark’s success is coming because of her skill and talent, not her race and looks. She said, “To have her reduced that way bothered me a lot because this is her record.” She added, “Unless you can show me who’s got a better record than this, this is why she’s getting the attention she’s getting, because she’s a damn good player and doesn’t matter whether she’s straight or gay, ain’t nobody crying when she’s making those balls.”
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Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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