New WNBA race conflict erupts as Megan Rapinoe blasts ‘racist’ query on the middle of Caitlin Clark-DiJonai Carrington dispute – and gamers insist journalist ought to be FIRED

Activist and retired soccer star Megan Rapinoe has thrust herself into the simmering racial tensions within the WNBA.

Talking to accomplice and retired WNBA legend Sue Chicken on their podcast, A Contact Extra, Rapinoe blasted the ‘racist’ query on the coronary heart of USA At the moment columnist Christine Brennan’s conflict with the WNBA gamers’ union.

‘My visceral response was like: ”That is not good. That does not really feel good. That feels racist, to be trustworthy,”’ Rapinoe instructed Chicken.

The controversial query was directed at Connecticut Solar guard DiJonai Carrington, who has been within the crosshairs of Caitlin Clark followers ever since she poked the Indiana Fever rookie’s eye within the playoff opener final month.

Brennan requested Carrington final week if the attention poke was intentional, which the participant denied. Likewise, Carrington additionally denied laughing in regards to the incident after cameras caught her guffawing with teammates later of their Recreation 1 victory. (The Solar would go on to beat Clark’s Fever within the best-of-three sequence to advance to the semifinals)

However whereas Carrington answered Brennan’s questions with out criticism, the WNBA gamers’ union responded with a scathing assertion directed on the famed columnist.

‘To unprofessional members of the media like Christine Brennan: You aren’t fooling anybody,’ learn the WNBPA assertion. ‘That so-called interview within the identify of journalism was a blatant try to bait knowledgeable athlete into collaborating right into a narrative that’s false and designed to gas racist, homophobic, and misogynistic vitriol on social media. You can not disguise behind your tenure.

‘You might have abused your privileges and don’t deserve the credentials issued to you.’

Brennan, a 66-year-old sportswriting pioneer, has been defended by scores of journalists for the reason that controversy started, together with some from either side of the political divide. For example, liberal Keith Olbermann and conservative Jason Whitlock have each condemned the WNBPA for his or her assertion.

Moreover, USA At the moment launched a press release saying the newspaper rejects ‘the notion that the interview perpetuated any narrative apart from to get the gamers’ perspective instantly.’

Rapinoe, alternatively, believes Brennan was instinctively defending a white participant.

‘I believe it is so disingenuous for Christine Brennan and different media members to be like ”I’m simply asking the query,’ Rapinoe mentioned. ‘However actually what is occurring is your pure intuition to guard and narrate white gamers versus ”go after and narrate black gamers.” That to me is the problem.

‘The premise of the query depends on the idea that DiJonai is focusing on, that DiJonai is particularly swatted or swiped into Caitlin’s eyeball,’ Rapinoe continued.

Each Chicken and Rapinoe have been fast to dismiss the attention poke as unintentional.

‘Initially, the sq. footage of Caitlin’s eyeball could be very small,’ Rapinoe mentioned.

‘That was my first thought,’ Chicken agreed. ‘Have you learnt how onerous it will be to goal and poke somebody within the eye?’

And though Clark suffered a black eye, she has dismissed the incident, saying that she does not consider Carrington supposed to harm her.

Nonetheless, that hasn’t stopped followers and media for calling for a suspension.

‘DiJonai Carrington stabbed Caitlin Clark within the eye with a fingernail,’ Whitlock later wrote on X. ‘It may’ve broken the profession of the WNBA’s meal ticket and the largest American girls’s sports activities star of all time. ESPN and the WNBA have but to handle this story. Carrington ought to be suspended.’

Carrington was not suspended, nor was she even whistled for a foul on the play – two issues which have fueled some followers’ perception that Clark is the sufferer of anti-white racism.

The storyline has been a relentless theme all through the 2024 season because the WNBA has damaged all gross sales and tv audiences data. Many gamers and groups have referred to as out racist fan abuse, a lot of which has centered across the rivalry between rookies Clark, who’s white, and Angel Reese, who’s black.

Requested about the issue whereas showing on CNBC final month, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert likened the Clark-Reese dynamic to the NBA’s famed Larry Chicken-Magic Johnson rivalry, which additionally featured gamers of various races.

‘That is what makes individuals watch,’ Engelbert mentioned. ‘They wish to watch video games of consequence between rivals. They do not need all people being good to 1 one other.’

Talking to Chicken, Rapinoe rejected that rationalization wholeheartedly.

‘She principally implied that the racial pressure is sweet for enterprise, invoking Magic and Chicken,’ Rapinoe mentioned.

And Rapinoe’s issues with Engelbert did not cease there.

As she and Chicken defined, racism occurred within the WNBA lengthy earlier than Clark’s arrival attracted waves of recent followers. The issue additionally exists on the school degree, the place Reese and her LSU teammates in addition to defending-champion South Carolina confronted racist on-line abuse in recent times.

Engelbert, Rapinoe mentioned, ought to have anticipated this drawback.

‘I additionally really feel like [WNBA players] have been enormously failed by the league and by Cathy the Commissioner this yr,’ Rapinoe mentioned. ‘Like [Bird] mentioned, this is not new. This has been coming.’

And the issue hasn’t gone wherever within the playoffs.

Following essentially the most profitable common season in league historical past, the continuing WNBA postseason is vulnerable to being overshadowed by the controversy. Whereas many Clark supporters have accused the league of conspiring in opposition to its largest star, numerous gamers have voiced frustrations about racist fan abuse, a lot of which seems to return from Clark supporters.

‘I believe that in my 11-year profession I by no means skilled the racial feedback like from the Indiana Fever fan base,’ Thomas mentioned Thursday.

Clark addressed the racist remarks directed at her black colleagues with reporters final week following the Fever’s first-round playoff defeat by the hands of the Solar.

‘It is undoubtedly upsetting,’ Clark mentioned Friday morning. ‘No one in our league ought to be going through any form of racism, hurtful, disrespectful, hateful feedback and threats. These aren’t followers. These are trolls and it is an actual disservice to the individuals in our league, the group, the WNBA.’