Caitlin Clark was one of the nominees for the 2025 ESPY award for best WNBA player. The other nominees were A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, and Breanna Stewart.
Clark was not in attendance, as the Fever played the New York Liberty. The Fever star had to sit out the game after re-injuring her groin when Indiana faced Connecticut in TD Garden. She was still present on the sidelines during her team’s 98-77 loss to the defending champions, though.
Her absence didn’t keep ESPY host Shane Gillis from making a questionable joke about Clark and the WNBA.
“When Caitlin Clark retires from the WNBA, she’s going to work at a Waffle House so she can continue doing what she loves most: fist-fighting Black women,” Gillis said.
Gillis’s comment about Clark and the WNBA was uncalled for
For the past two seasons, part of the WNBA discourse on social media has been dominated by racial division and harmful narratives around Black players that caused certain “fans” to harass Black players, like Angel Reese and DiJonai Carrington, on several occasions. Gillis’s joke supports that same narrative, suggesting that Caitlin Clark has to “fight” every game because she is being targeted.
Supporting a narrative that has led to players being harassed and discriminated against at a major award show is a terrible choice. So is hiring a comedian who has already made headlines with racist comments that got him fired from SNL in the past. Putting Clark, who is the face of the league now, at the center of this racial divide also isn’t fair to her.
The “joke” is not only distasteful and offensive toward Black women but also has the potential to further fuel an already harmful discourse around the WNBA.
Caitlin Clark won another ESPY
Gillis’s tone-deaf jab at the WNBA shouldn’t take away from Caitlin Clark’s accomplishments. Clark won the ESPY for best WNBA player despite being the youngest nominee and not having won some of the accolades Wilson, Stewart, and Collier boast.
While Clark’s sophomore season isn’t going as hoped so far, she still continues to make WNBA history and has played some impressive games when healthy. Her near triple-double in a 102-88 win over the New York Liberty was easily her best game of the season. Clark recorded 32 points, including seven made threes, eight rebounds, nine assists, one steal, and two blocks in her first game back after dealing with a quad injury.
This is not the first ESPY Clark has won either. In 2024, she won two ESPYs—one for best college athlete in women’s sports, and one for best record-breaking performance after becoming the NCAA’s all-time scoring leader in her final college season.