If Caitlin Clark hoped her recent comments about ‘white privilege’ were going to quiet the critics who say her star power on and off the court is solely due to her skin color, she is surely already disappointed.
After Time magazine named Clark its “Athlete of the Year,” one WNBA owner wasted no time calling on the outlet for not recognizing the entire league instead.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Emily Jashinsky, host of Undercurrents on UnHerd, and Eliana Johnson, editor-in-chief of The Washington Free Beacon, to discuss the latest backlash Clark is facing.
The Controversy
As part of her “Athlete of the Year” title, Clark sat for an interview with Time in which she brought up race in relation to her success:
“I want to say I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege. A lot of those players in the league that have been really good have been black players. This league has kind of been built on them. The more we can appreciate that, highlight that, talk about that, and then continue to have brands and companies invest in those players that have made this league incredible, I think it’s very important. I have to continue to try to change that. The more we can elevate black women, that’s going to be a beautiful thing.”
Megyn was among those who called out Clark for “bending the knee” and warned that it wouldn’t be enough to “appease the race bullies in the WNBA because [she is] too popular… too talented… and… too white.” As it turns out, Megyn was onto something.
The co-owner of the Washington Mystics, Sheila Johnson, questioned why Time “couldn’t have put the whole WNBA on that cover” instead of just Clark. “While Caitlin Clark is undoubtedly talented, putting one individual on such a pedestal can foster resentment in a team sport like basketball,” she said during an interview with CNN on Friday. “It doesn’t reflect the collective efforts that make the game so special… When you just keep singling out one player, it creates hard feelings.”
Those “hard feelings” apparently lead to racial tensions. “So, then we’re starting to hear stories of racism within the WNBA, and I don’t want to hear that,” Johnson added. She claimed what gave way to the meteoric rise of the WNBA this year was not the Iowa standout being the number one pick in the draft and going on to receive rookie of the year and All-WNBA First Team honors, but rather a confluence of factors.
“This year, something clicked with the WNBA, and it’s because of the draft of players that came in. It’s not just Caitlin Clark. It’s Angel Reese,” Johnson said. “We have so much talent out there that has been unrecognized, and I don’t think we can just pin it on one player. Why couldn’t they have just put the entire WNBA on that cover and said the WNBA is the ‘league of the year’ because of all the talent that we have?”
‘So Out of Touch’
Megyn said Johnson’s remarks highlight why Clark’s groveling was a “fool’s errand” that got her nowhere. “Caitlin Clark is 22 and hasn’t yet learned the lesson that bending the knee to the woke mob does not produce better results in one’s life,” she explained. “Nothing good will come from it. You will alienate your fan base that does not want to see you buy into the bullsh-t narratives about race or white privilege in the WNBA, and you will gain absolutely no grace or quarter from your critics who are not persuadable.”
In Jashinsky’s view, Clark is not the only one who missed the mark. “Of course, we have to listen to CNN segments like that one with Sheila Johnson… literally doing the cringe ‘everyone gets a trophy’ routine,” she lamented. “This moment is so out of touch. The country is basically in the position right now of throwing all of that bullsh-t out the window, and she is going on CNN acting like she is the moral high ground.”
Johnson said the argument rings hollow given the history of basketball. “The thing that really struck me is I grew up a fan of the NBA in the era of Michael Jordan and since then… the major NBA stars have been… Kobe Bryant and LeBron James – all African American men,” she noted. “Is the stipulation that female basketball fans are somehow uniquely racist? Caitlin Clark is really talented, but we haven’t seen race be a barrier to major, major stardom and riches [in the NBA].”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Jashinsky and Johnson by tuning in to episode 966 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.
