Former ESPN anchor smears Caitlin Clark fans with sweeping, false accusations of racism | Matt Calkins

Did you know that Caitlin Clark is an “avatar for people who want to spread hate”?

Because Cari Champion does.

Did you know that the fans who latched onto her are just middle Americans “who want to see White women do well in a sport that’s traditionally Black”?

Caitlin Clark continues to take heat from media members despite drawing millions of new fans to the WNBA. (Ali Gradischer/Getty Images)

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Champion’s all over that, too.

The former ESPN anchor would also like you to know that Clark hasn’t done enough to give Black players their respect, and that the WNBA is coddling Caitlin and her “MAGA” fans to the detriment of the league.

She shared these insights in separate podcasts with Jemele Hill and Bakari Sellers. It was all very enlightening.

And by enlightening I mean ridiculous.

No doubt that Clark — the most popular women’s basketball player ever — has displayed traits that warrant criticism. She can be petulant. She can be hostile toward refs. And she’s about to lead the league in turnovers for the third consecutive season.

But the racial narratives the media manufactures with her are as absurd as the maligning of her fan base. Who’s really the hateful one here?

Let’s start with Champion’s notion that Clark’s fans are essentially country bumpkins looking for a white face to cheer for. This makes no sense. Sue Bird, Dianna Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, and Kelsey Plum were all No. 1 overall picks who won the Wooden Award in their final year of college. All White — but none were selling out arenas.

Cari Champion speaks on the “Naked Sports” panel during the 2025 Black Effect Podcast Festival. (Derek White/Getty Images for iHeartMedia and The Black Effect Podcast Network)

ELLE DUNCAN BLAMES CAITLIN CLARK, HER FANS FOR MEDIA SMEAR CAMPAIGN WHILE IGNORING FACTS

That’s because they weren’t pulling up from 28 feet ten times a game en route to setting the all-time NCAA scoring record while leading the country in assists for three straight years. Clark didn’t rise to fame because she played college basketball unlike any woman who’s come before her, she did it because she played college hoops unlike any person had before. Given how popular athletes such as Serena Williams and Simone Biles were, it seems silly to think Clark wouldn’t have achieved the same notoriety if she were Black.

Plus, wasn’t it LeBron James who posted “if you don’t rock with Caitlin Clark’s game you’re just a FLAT OUT HATER!!!!!”? And isn’t it Tyrese Haliburton who’s a courtside regular at her Fever games? Could just be me, but those guys don’t look very White.

Next, there is Champion’s assertion that Clark’s fans are trying to “spread hate.” Or that the league looks the other way when this “entitled” and “nasty” fan base “behaves like MAGA.” She went so far as to say that Clark supporters can’t accept other players’ “queerness” or “blackness.”

Really?

The source Clark detractors always cite is online vitriol, and there’s no doubt that exists. But such vitriol never seems to be quantified in a way that’s comparable to other famous athletes’ fan bases. The unfortunate truth is that there are always going to be internet trolls who want to denigrate people behind their cat avatar on X. But are there any examples in which Clark fans crossed the line from online noise into real-world harassment?

Caitlin Clark celebrates a three-pointer against the Washington Mystics on Friday. (© Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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In 2024, Brittney Griner said “I don’t appreciate the new fans that sit there and yell racial slurs at myself, my teammates and the people that I play against.” But she provided no specifics or evidence to substantiate the claim, and though she didn’t single out Fever fans as the culprits, there was a strong implication that they were. Similarly, in May of last year, Angel Reese claimed that Fever fans hurled racist comments her way during a game. But after a review involving fans, team and arena staff and audio and video from the game, the WNBA said it could not substantiate the allegation. Does this mean it never happened? Not necessarily.

But concrete evidence of Clark fans acting in a hateful manner — at least in real time — is severely lacking.

What’s not lacking, however, is the hostility toward Clark and her fans. Champion said that Clark being heterosexual, White and Catholic helped bring a new fan base that the WNBA is “coddling” for the sake of business. First of all, Clark being the most entertaining women’s basketball player in the world is what brought in all those new fans — but could you imagine the inverse of that statement? That if a broadcaster bemoaned the “coddling” of a gay, Black and Muslim fan base? Instant cancellation.

But Champion goes on. And she seems to disapprove of Clark not going out of her way to highlight Black players in a league that is 70 percent Black. She wishes Caitlin could be more like Wings point guard Paige Bueckers, who, in her 2021 ESPY’s speech, said that Black women’s basketball players were being overlooked. OK. Two things.

1)Every women’s basketball player was being overlooked before Clark came on the scene. Her arrival elevated the popularity of players Black and White alike. 2) Could you imagine if a pundit said that Tiger Woods should do more to highlight his white peers in a white-dominated sport? Or that Shohei Ohtani should thank all the white players that came before him? Outrage would justifiably ensue. So let’s stop with that idea.

Sports leagues are not built on color. They are built on talent. Saying white players such as Clark or Bueckers should pay homage to their Black peers is as absurd as saying Steph Curry and Jalen Brunson should pay homage to their tall peers. It’s about the individual.

Caitlin Clark #22 of the Indiana Fever wears a shirt saying “Pay us what you owe us” prior to the 2025 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on July 19, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

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And if we’re being honest here, Clark’s race and sexual orientation may very well be working against her. Last year, after being called for a foul involving Clark, Griner was caught on camera saying what appeared to be “trash, f—ing White girl.” Then, there was this year’s All-Star voting, where Caitlin was ranked second among guards by the fans, third by the media….and 11th by the players. One might say this was pure jealousy, except that Kelsey Plum, who is also white and straight, finished sixth among fans, fifth among media and 12th among players. The year before, it went 6-6-16 for Plum.

Most of us who follow Clark are aware of the hits she takes on the court, whether it’s Chennedy Carter hip-checking her to the ground or Alyssa Thomas making closed-fist contact with her throat. But the hits are just as blatant from within press boxes or studios — and it’s fair to question people’s motivation.

No one here is saying Caitlin or her supporters are above criticism. But all of Champion’s rhetoric about Clark and her supposedly bigoted fan base?

Some might see it as provocation. I can’t help but wonder if it’s projection.