I've written about the WNBA's treatment of Caitlin Clark a couple of times, despite having no particular interest in the WNBA.
In fact, I don't even watch the NBA, because college basketball is a far superior sport with much hungrier players, but that is another story.
What makes Caitlin Clark's case culturally interesting is that she combines unique, obvious talents and star power that has finally made the sport interesting to the public, and that the players and management hate her for it.
Hate her so much, in fact, that they have declared open season on her, apparently hoping she will get injured enough to leave the game. The same can be said of many in the sports media, although by no means all. Many of them have probably been as bored by the WNBA until Clark came on the scene, and have breathed a sigh of relief that, finally, somebody can play ball worth watching.
So why is Clark so hated? Surely some of it is jealousy, but we all know the dominant reason: she is white and heterosexual in a sport that is dominated by black and queer players.
Might be the single most unhinged thing to write on the topic of Caitlin Clark imaginable, certainly would be difficult to beat. If I’m reading this correctly, nothing can be done about the other players beating up on her in the middle of games because of… Emmett Till? https://t.co/47WgtvLAYq
— Enguerrand VII de Coucy (@ingelramdecoucy) July 23, 2026
It's the open hostility toward Clark and the willingness to physically assault her that interests me, not her clear athletic abilities. I'm much more interested in football as a viewer, but as a writer, my interest is the cultural clashes and what they say about our culture. The controversies over Clark's performance and treatment are at the intersection where many of our cultural clashes sit.
This article by Nancy Armour, a columnist at USA Today, directly addresses them. Armour, whom I don't normally read, appears to be exactly what you would expect after reading her column: an AWFL so obsessed with Social Justice that her advice to Clark is that she must accept her awful treatment at the hands of her colleagues and the League because of our nation's history of white supremacy.
She should accept her role as the whipping boy (or girl, in this case, if we can assign her a gender without asking).
Of course, Armour first tries to dismiss the obvious fact that Clark gets beat up on the court at all, and accuses her of "flopping." I can't say for sure whether she ever does, but I've seen enough videos of Clark being punched in the throat, pushed around, hit, and tripped to know that the accusations that she is targeted are not fake, or even a close call.
How can the officials allow this to happen?! pic.twitter.com/FwtxEQCk3q
— Farm Girl Carrie 👩🌾 (@FarmGirlCarrie) June 30, 2026
I mean, it's not even close. And the refs almost always side with the people who assault Clark and will call fouls on Clark that clearly never happened. Even coaches, including her own coach at times, will excuse the attacks on Clark and the verbal abuse she endures every time she steps onto the court.
The WNBA even kept her out of the 30th Anniversary poster for the League, despite her being their most famous star. Pure prejudice, and it sure isn't white privilege.
WNBA basketball player Caitlin Clark gets cheap shotted, called a 'b*tch' and then Angel Reese stands up to celebrate.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) June 1, 2024
Just last week, "The View" co-host Sunny Hostin argued that Clark had "white privilege" and "pretty privilege."
Race baiter Jemele Hill also claimed that… pic.twitter.com/iKqnfDU9on
WNBA basketball player Caitlin Clark gets cheap shotted, called a 'b*tch' and then Angel Reese stands up to celebrate.
Just last week, "The View" co-host Sunny Hostin argued that Clark had "white privilege" and "pretty privilege."
Race baiter Jemele Hill also claimed that Clark's popularity was due to her race and s*xuality.
Clark is getting bullied from all angles but these clowns want you to think that *she* is the issue.
Clark can be compared to the whites who lynched Emmett Till in USA Today, and Sunny Hostin can talk about white privilege and "pretty privilege" because they and their cultural cohort believe that success and victimhood are determined by one's place on the intersectional ladder, and not on who you are as a person. In the grand scheme of things, none of us is an individual, but a cog in the class structure.
In the famous case of Clark getting punched in the throat on live TV, no ref called a foul, and it wasn't until the fans erupted in outrage that the League relented and punished Alyssa Thomas.
These dumb bitches don't realize the only reason anyone watches trash WNBA is because of Caitlin Clark.
— Sara Rose 🇺🇸🌹 (@saras76) June 27, 2026
They want to destroy everything pic.twitter.com/HDjHqmhtCJ
The players themselves are quite clear that their problem with Clark is that she is white and heterosexual, so it's no secret why this is happening. They think that they deserve all the attention, despite the relative lack of talent that most of them have.
#Fever guard Sophie Cunningham on her trans comments in ESPN:
— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) July 22, 2026
“I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense. … I think it’s really important to protect children.”
“I don’t dislike anyone. … I’m there to love, but I’m also there to love biological women. …” pic.twitter.com/3OrIqoVYrk
#Fever guard Sophie Cunningham on her trans comments in ESPN:
“I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense. … I think it’s really important to protect children.”
“I don’t dislike anyone. … I’m there to love, but I’m also there to love biological women. …”
It says quite a bit that her teammate Sophie Cunningham has become a phenom in her own right for standing up for Clark and for being brave enough to defend women's sports as women's domain.
Another privileged white girl has an opinion, right?
WNBA player Sophie Cunningham calls out WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert by name, rips the league for not protecting her teammate, Caitlin Clark.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) June 28, 2026
"This type of sh*t happens every single game to her, and the league and the refs do absolutely nothing about it."
Cunningham and… pic.twitter.com/F4EnFpcntS
WNBA player Sophie Cunningham calls out WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert by name, rips the league for not protecting her teammate, Caitlin Clark.
"This type of sh*t happens every single game to her, and the league and the refs do absolutely nothing about it."
Cunningham and co-host West Wilson also discussed the possibility that Engelbert is jealous of Clark, which may be why Clark was snubbed from the WNBA 30th Anniversary Poster.
All of this has combined to play into other cultural phenomena now being openly talked about: the so-called "black fatigue" and a similar, as-yet-unnamed, queer fatigue.
People are done with the victimhood claims, and the bad behavior that gets enabled and excused by references to unearned victimhood. People claim victimhood while having tantrums, and the increasingly outrageous behavior by black teens on the streets is fueled by the rhetoric.
Don't like shoplifting? You're a white supremacist. Teen takeovers get you down? You want to lynch people. Don't want to kowtow to the pronoun police? You support "genocide" and want to "erase" people.
A lot of people are over it. The case for changing attitudes and practices regarding race and gender—and it is a great case—is that people should be judged by how they act, not what group they happen to belong to. Skin color or sexual preferences are not the core of one's being, or rather the "content of their character," right?
Except now, the content of one's character is irrelevant, as long as you can claim victimhood and your accuser has "privilege."
Screw that. I agree with the first proposition, and reject the latter. We all should.
UPDATE: Author got ratioed and is now backpedaling like mad!
"I made a stupid non-sequitur argument attempting to call fans racist, and shame on everyone for noticing it." https://t.co/pojkgEmrWJ
— Ed Morrissey (@EdMorrissey) July 23, 2026
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