Recently, there has been a substantial amount of controversy surrounding star WNBA rookie Caitlin Clark. The former Iowa Hawkeye has received criticism surrounding her race and sexuality, along with other players in the league demonstrating aggression toward her on the court.
Television personality Piers Morgan recently wrote a piece in the New York Post, slamming Clark’s detractors who assert that she has some sort of privilege. Illustrating the absurdity of the arguments against Clark, Morgan described a hypothetical where one would claim NBS superstar LeBron James’s success stems from a variety of privileges.
However, he quickly dispelled the idea, asserting that “King James” earned the title by becoming a phenomenal basketball player. “The reason LeBron James is the biggest star in basketball is because he’s a generationally sensational player who is now the highest scorer in NBA history. That’s it. If he wasn’t as great at basketball as he is, nobody would give a damn about him and none of his supposed privilege would even matter,” he said.
Morgan then segues to Clark, maintaining that her success and popularity are driven by her “extraordinary talent,” much like James. The broadcaster suggested the critics of Clark are plagued with “jealousy.” “Which brings me to Caitlin Clark, another generational basketball talent with extraordinary ability who has been subjected to a vile onslaught of seething resentment, jealousy and absurd allegations of “privilege” that have dogged her move into the WNBA,” he wrote.
One of the most controversial opinions about Clark comes from former ESPN personality Jemele Hill, who suggested the rookie’s popularity is the product of her being straight and white. Morgan labeled her as “race-baiting.” The American Tribune reported on Hill’s remarks that Clark’s popularity is a “little bit problematic.”
She 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.”
The former ESPN personality suggested that black women in society are “often erased from the picture,” insinuating that Clark could be contributing to this. 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.”
Furthermore, Chicago Sky player Chennedy Carter sparked backlash after she committed a hard foul against Clark. After reevaluating its severity, the WBNA later upgraded the contact from a common foul to a flagrant foul. Watch footage of the incident below:
Featured image credit : By John Mac – https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmac612/53558910406/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=145963861
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