NCAA phenom turned all-star Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark has responded to her name being used in racist and misogynistic online discourse. Considerable debate emerged after it was announced that Clark, a white woman, had not been selected as part of the 2024 U.S. women's Olympic basketball team, with many social media users claiming that Clark's absence was a decision rooted in so-called reverse. Other backlash stemmed from a series of tough fouls Clark took in her first several games as a professional WNBA player, per ESPN.
"People should not be using my name to push those agendas. It's disappointing. It's not acceptable," Clark said Thursday, according to the outlet. "Treating every single woman in this league with the same amount of respect, I think, it's just a basic human thing that everybody should do."
Earlier that day, Clark seemed less willing to address her name being circulated.
"I don't put too much thought and time into thinking about things like that, and to be honest, I don't see a lot of it," Clark said. "Basketball is my job. Everything on the outside, I can't control that, so I'm not going to spend time thinking about that."
That comment drew criticism from Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington, one of the players to inflict a hard foul on Clark during a game on Monday night. "Dawg. How one can not be bothered by their name being used to justify racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia & the intersectionalities of them all is nuts," Carrington tweeted on Thursday. "We all see the sh*t. We all have a platform. We all have a voice & they all hold weight. Silence is a luxury."
