WNBA fans get triggered by journalist's Caitlin Clark-Taylor Swift comparison: "Racism is alive and well, y'all"

By Joey Haverford

Modified Jun 03, 2024 00:58 GMT

The rookie season of Caitlin Clark continues to add excitement on the court and polarizing debates off the court in the WNBA. Clark has dealt with some physical defense and questionable plays made against her. Veterans treating rookie players like this is often part of any professional team sport, but Clark’s stronger name value than most of the league puts the spotlight on her.

Saturday’s Indiana Fever 71-70 victory over the Chicago Sky featured a play that had everyone talking. Chicago’s Chennedy Carter delivered a hard foul on Clark, while teammate Angel Reese was spotted on the bench celebrating the play. The WNBA upgraded Carter’s common foul to a flagrant-1 and fined Reese $1,000 for not appearing to answer media questions after the game.

Journalist Monique Judge, a senior editor at DAME magazine made an interesting point comparing Caitlin Clark to music superstar Taylor Swift:

"Caitlin Clark is the Taylor Swift of women's basketball. No, I will not elaborate."

The inference is likely that people get offended on behalf of Caitlin Clark, in the same way Swift’s most vocal fan base speaks about her on social media.

One fan who saw the post took offense to this take, claiming it was racism.

Another chimed in about Clark's fans making the conversations about race.

"I think she's just a good basketball player. This whole race thing is weird, we get it, in college her team was mostly white.... it's not college anymore you can ditch this gimmick."

One fan asked the poster to elaborate further on what she meant by the tweet.

"Pls elaborate. Talent? Or how much they stan her? Stan - absolutely. Talent - No. TS is avg talent but overhyped. CC talent is like LeBron. All time NCAA highest scorer in history (men & women) & #1 draft pick. Def in running for college GOAT. So yeah kinda need elaboration."

However, others understood the original poster's point and felt it didn't need to be expanded upon.

"What’s understood should never need to be explained. 💯💯💯"

Opposing fans still felt the poster was out of line and trying to insult Caitlin Clark.

Another user went as far as to call it one of the worst points he's seen made on social media.

"This is the dumbest tweet I may have ever seen"

Judge defended herself against the insulting replies, feeling that proves her original point all along.

"Look at the replies from white people on this tweet. They are calling me racist simply for making a comparison between two white women. I swear. Y'all skin is so thin, you probably get paper cuts from extra-soft toilet paper."

Caitlin Clark is not as offended as those are on behalf of her

Mental toughness remains a major strength for Caitlin Clark during the early stages of her WNBA career. Clark has not complained and has simply continued on with playing.

The Indiana Fever sensation made it clear she wasn’t expecting a hard hit by Carter, but she wanted to focus on finishing the game to improve the team’s record.

“I wasn’t expecting it. It is what it is. It’s a physical game. Go make the free throw and execute on offense, and I feel like that’s kind of what we did.”

The college rivalry between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese often creates conversations and comparisons between the two major rookies entering the league. Indiana and Chicago playing a close one to the end made this game a positive for the WNBA. Viewers were treated to a heated game between two rising rookie stars and witnessed the next step in the Reese vs Clark rivalry.