Megyn Kelly unleashed an attack against Caitlin Clark after the WNBA star talked about ways white privilege seeps into women’s basketball during an interview published in Time magazine this week.
The former Fox News personality took to X, formerly Twitter, to spew inflammatory remarks about Clark’s comments. In the interview, Clark said that she recognized her privilege as a white person in the league and that it’s important to elevate Black players.The publication had named the Indiana Fever player its 2024 Athlete of the Year on Tuesday.
“Look at this. She’s on the knee all but apologizing for being white and getting attention,” Kelly wrote on X. “The self-flagellation. The ‘oh pls pay attention to the black players who are REALY the ones you want to celebrate.’ Condescending. Fake. Transparent. Sad.”
But Clark never apologized for being white. She acknowledged that Black WNBA players — who make up the majority of players in the league — haven’t received the same level of mainstream attention, opportunities or coverage that she has.
When reports emerged in the spring that Clark was nearing a reported eight-figure Nike deal, many questioned why the league’s most valuable player, A’ja Wilson, who is Black, hadn’t gotten a signatureshoe deal. (Wilson announced a shoe deal with Nike the following month.)
People have also called attention to Clark’s growing list of endorsement deals and the rookie’s perceived marketability in a league that’s predominantly Black.
But the Fever star doesn’t seem to be bothered by Kelly’s criticism. She told sportscaster Maria Taylor in an interview on Wednesday that she blocks out the “noise” and that she’s “comfortable in my own skin” when asked to address Kelly’s remarks.
Here’s what Kelly’s missing with her social media comments.
In the Time interview, Clark celebrated her own talents, accomplishments and influence in women’s basketball, as well as the accolades and opportunities that have followed. But she also recognized that two things can be true: She is an outstanding basketball player, and talented Black players who have built the league should get more recognition than they do.
“I want to say I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege,” Clark said. “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,” she added. “I have to continue to try to change that.”
“The more we can elevate Black women, that’s going to be a beautiful thing,” Clark said in the interview.
Clark has undeniably had an immense effect on women’s basketball. She became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division 1 basketball during her time playing college basketball with the Iowa Hawkeyes. And when South Carolina’s women’s basketball team defeated Iowa in the NCAA women’s championship game in April, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley credited Clark for “lifting up” women’s basketball.
Clark, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, is also often credited for playing a significant role in the WNBA’s recent record-breaking attendance and TV ratings — dubbed the “Caitlin Clark effect.”
But Black players have largely built and grown the league since the first WNBA game was played in 1997, with many groundbreaking moments since. In 2002, Lisa Leslie became the first WNBA player to dunk in a game. In 2008, Candace Parker was the first player to get MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season. In 2017, Rebekkah Brunson set a WNBA record winning five titles.
WNBA players have also been leaders in championing LBGTQ rights and bringing racial injustice protests to professional sports. In 2014, the WNBA became the first professional sports league to launch an official Pride campaign.
Ajhanai “AJ” Keaton, an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who studies race and gender marginalization, told the New Pittsburgh Courier in September that she believes the heightened coverage surrounding Clark has to do with race and gender politics.
“I believe that race is a guiding politic,” she said. “But I think it’s also gender, and I think we can’t ignore the way race and gender politics play into this. Caitlin Clark being a white woman, right? Being a white woman from the Midwest, being heterosexual, representing something to white America, right?”
People have also called out the fact that masculine-presenting WNBA players have been excluded from certain sponsorship opportunities.
Victoria Jackson, a sports historian and clinical associate professor at Arizona State University, explained to The Associated Press in May that it’s important to dissect why Clark has been labeled a “generational talent.”
“Whenever we’re making those cases, I immediately think, well, who are the other generational talents we’ve had? And I think too often the athletes that could be placed in that category who have been Black women have not had that sort of gushing attention,” Jackson said. “And especially the kind of general public, crossover saturation that Caitlin Clark has had.”
“There are overlapping, intersecting reasons for why that is. But I think we can’t not think about it if the goal here is to have equitable treatment of the athletes in the sport,” Jackson said.
Clark herself has recognized the impact Black WNBA players have made in the league.
During her appearance on “Saturday Night Live” in April, she took a moment to honor five Black WNBA greats: Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley and Maya Moore, whom she called her “basketball hero.”
And in recent years, Black WNBA players, such as Wilson, Chicago Sky player Angel Reese and Phoenix Mercury player Brittney Griner, have also notably helped popularize the sport.
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In September, Connecticut Sun player Alyssa Thomas and coach Stephanie White called out the unprecedented number of racist and homophobic comments they said players have faced since WNBA viewership increased this past season.
Thomas, who is Black, said that the attacks had mostly come from the Fever fan base.
“I think that in my 11-year career, I never experienced the racial comments like from the Indiana Fever fan base,” she said, adding “basketball is headed in a great direction, but we don’t want fans that are going to degrade us and call us racial things.”
Reese, who has often been pitted against Clark and villainized in narratives about their sports rivalry, has similarly called out the racist vitriol over the past few years. She wrote in a post on X in September that she’s been told to “save the tears” and “stop playing victim” anytime she’s spoken out about the attacks. The WNBA released a statement at the time saying the league “will not tolerate racist, derogatory, or threatening comments.”
Clark has also previously condemned racist comments from WNBA fans. During a news conference in September, she called the situation “definitely upsetting.”
“Those aren’t fans; those are trolls,” she said.
