Former WNBA superstar Sue Bird criticized a portion of the new fan base Caitlin Clark has brought to the league this year, during an episode of her podcast "A Touch More with Sue Bird & Megan Rapinoe" on Wednesday.
Bird went so far as to suggest that a large number of individuals that are now following the WNBA and the Indiana Fever because of Clark should not even be considered fans of the team or even Clark herself because of the agenda that she claims they are pushing.
"It's not the Fever fans, it's not Caitlin fans, that is a large group of people… we're talking about the faction of that group that is pushing racist agendas, and is pushing hate and creating divisiveness online acting as fans, acting as Fever fans, acting as Caitlin fans. Now whether or not they like basketball, I don't know. But that's the group of people we're talking about. Not all Fever fans, not all new fans, just the ones that are out there pushing this s---," Bird said.
Clark herself spoke out against certain segments of the WNBA fanbase after the Fever's season ended in a first-round playoff sweep to the Connecticut Sun last week during the Fever's exit interview on Thursday.
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"Those aren't fans. Those are trolls," Clark said. "Nobody in our league should be facing any sort of racism, disrespectful or hurtful comments and threats."
Clark's comments came when she was asked about a statement the WNBA put out condemning racism by fans shortly Sun player Alyssa Thomas accused Fever fans of racism following the end of Connecticut's Game 2 win.
"Honestly, it's been a lot of nonsense. I think in my 11-year career, I've never experienced racial comments [like I have] from the Indiana Fever fan base. It's unacceptable, honestly. There's no place for it," Thomas said in the postgame press conference.
Bird pointed specifically to the narrative that Clark has been intentionally targeted by WNBA players as a product of these non-fans, and she believes that narrative has been the biggest driver of the issue of racism that Clark and the league felt the need to address recently.
Many of Clark's fans have expressed outrage in her rookie year over instances in which she was physically handled by opposing players. In Game 1 of the Fever-Sky playoff series, Sun player DiJonai Carrington gave Clark a black eye when she stuck her fingernail in the rookie's eye in the first quarter.
Clark took an illegal hip check from Chicago Sky forward Chennedy Carter on June 1 when the Sky player charged right into the Fever rookie and knocked her down during a stoppage in play. Clark said after the game that Carter's hit "was not a basketball play."
Sky rookie and Clark's longtime rival, Angel Reese, slammed her arm onto Clark's head while trying to block a layup in a game between the two teams on June 16. Then in August, Sky player Diamond DeShields sent Clark flying and then sliding across the hardwood on a play that was later upgraded to a flagrant-1 foul.
Bird said the idea that players are intentionally targeting Clark is "the most insulting thing" to think or say about the players, and that those beliefs are now manifesting in the mainstream.
"A lot of people have been operating under the assumption that these narratives, particular the targeting narrative, is true, and that has caused, I'd say, almost all the issues that we're seeing. And it's so far from the truth, and that's why it's been so sad," Bird said.
However, Clark herself has been on the receiving end of racially-charged comments this season too, not just from pesky fans but from major figures in the media.
ESPN's Pat McAfee referred to Clark as a "white b----" during an episode of his nationally televised show June 3 and later apologized. McAfee used the term during a discussion about how much popularity Clark was bringing to the league compared to other players, saying, "I would like the media people that continue to say, ‘This rookie class, this rookie class, this rookie class.’ Nah, just call it for what it is. There’s one White b---- for the Indiana team who is a superstar." McAfee later apologized.
In May, "The View" host Sunny Hostins said during an episode of that show that Clark's popularity was due, in part, to "white privilege."
Carrington called out Clark in a post on X in June, criticizing the rookie for not doing more to call out racism among her own fans in an X post in June.
"Dawg. How one can not be bothered by their name being used to justify racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia & the intersectionalities of them all is nuts," Carrington wrote. "We all see the [s---]. We all have a platform. We all have a voice & they all hold weight. Silence is a luxury."
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