Caitlin Clark Popularity Leads To Questions of Race & Sexuality | The View

so let's talk about Caitlyn Clark because she is the breakout star of the WNBA right now with the highest salary in league history, yes, and a $28 million Nike endorsement deal, and in a new article in the LA Times about his success. Sports journalist Jamal Jamal. Jamal Hill, it's hard, although every time I say his name it's a heart and my lips just fall away. I felt them start and then it was like really, so let me try again. Jamal Hill compares Clark to Steph Cori for being relatable to fans. but she claims that the fact that she is a straight white woman plays a big role in the hype around her, it's not the numbers she puts on the scoreboard, so I just want to point something out: she is the leading scorer for men and women of all time of the ncaa. she in February she broke the women's record in March she broke Pistol Pete Maravich's record of 3,667 points.

She has played more 30 games than anyone in the last 25 years. Yes, she's fine. She has a single-season record of three points for women. She's the uh, the big 10. time leader in attendance now listen, you know, when people say things like that it's like people say oh, you only got into this Ivy League college because you're black or you only got this because of this, this girl earned this . I don't. I'm sorry, you know there are great players, but no one else has done this, so I'm not mad that they gave him basketball, but I will suggest to Wilson that one of the things they might want to do is the people who do basketball, yeah, just I want to make sure that we can see, suggest that, what's the word to honor MH?, the women, yes, who play in the WNBA, maybe they should do a series of balls, you know, and please don't do them .

They're pink, okay, they don't have to be pink, just make them regular basketballs because there are some extraordinary players and she's part of the reason people are paying attention now. I'm telling you, I'm going through a very difficult time today. sounds like me on a Monday, yes people are paying attention to the WBA, the WNBA, okay let me take this Bon of doing this more, no I think what Jamal Hill was saying is important, we need to identify the communities that They have not been the center of attention. Paige Buckers from Yukon gave an incredible speech at SB about two years ago, essentially giving her award to the black women who came before her saying that although they won 80% of the awards that year they got less than half the media coverage, all of those things can be True, I think Caitlyn Clark can't be reduced to much beyond her stats because a number isn't skewed, it just is what it is, but I think she's also been good about addressing those who came before her.

She knows that like Maya Moore, her Idol came from her before her, she's been very reverent in saying that it was all these women who opened and built the sport and she's taking it a little further. You also can't forget that she came from Iowa and I say this not only as a proud Iowan, but Caitlyn Clark could have gone to a much better basketball program. She made a deliberate decision to create a program. Many times people talk about how a goat is only if you have rings. Caitlyn knew at the time of her election at Iowa that she was going to create a program under Coach Bler and she was proud to stay home because Iowa doesn't have professional teams, we don't have a lot of fans, so even though everyone jumped on the bandwagon by Caitlyn Clark, eventually Iowa was so You were thirsty and hungry for a player that they could follow and believe in, and you felt like you were a part of it, so that was the beginning of this Gusto LSU Yukon, all these amazing programs, it's like If we were back at National, great, yeah, we were there last time.

The year also, you know, they didn't have the same hype as this Iowa program and that's part of the reason why Caitlyn Clark has been so important as well. I I I I You know, I've been a basketball fan for as long as I can remember. I played basketball with my dad in Harlem when I was 5 years old. I remember loving the game and the game, not necessarily loving women at all and, um, the WNBA started in 1996, the first games were played in 1997, it's 2024 and we're barely there. I'm really talking about it now and so if Caitlyn Clark is the vehicle that will bring this sport that I have loved so much and for so long to 5 year old girls playing in Harlem, I say yes, Bravo, I have no problem with that.

That being said, I think there's something called pretty privilege, there's something called white privilege, there's something called high privilege and we have to recognize that and so part of this has to do with

race

, because if you think about the Britney Grinders of the world they know why she had to go play in Russia they wouldn't pay her because they wouldn't pay her they wouldn't pay her she was black but since they didn't believe in the WNBA this is Part of my point is that now you know that Caitlyn Clark is contributing this money, these sponsorships that We hope the league and other players will benefit from it, but I think it's easier for more people to relate to because she's white, because she's attractive and unfortunately she's still there.

Is that stigma against the lgbtq plus community? 70% of the NBA is black and a third of the players are in the lgbtq plus community and we have to do something about that stigma in this country. I think people have a problem. with basketball players women who are lesbians who cares they are great athletes well you can't tell a lesbian unless she tells you she's a lesbian it's not like you look and say oh there's one you don't know they're pretty open in the league and I'm happy with the league, yeah, I was just saying I also think there's a long history of people playing sports that maybe they weren't well represented and they were phenomenal and good at the sport, you think about Tiger.

Woods, who entered the PGA, became a phenomenon and an icon built the sport even more than Serena Williams and tennis and then with Caitlyn Clark. For me, I'm not really a big basketball fan, but I love or don't know the sports I want. He knew sports. I like to follow what people talk about. I like to know what people are. Now I'm engaged. Drew had to do with the color of him. It's very fun to watch. He is excellent. They are fantasies and now I am like a WNBA. fan, I'm going to be like a go go sports, I mean, even Don Staley, who is a legendary, the goat of the coaches says thank you kit Clark, thanks for bringing LeBron, he said it too, we have been, you know because we have done this.

We've been trying to do this together, wait a second with this, yeah, yeah, yeah, because we've been trying to bring attention to the WNBA for years, begging people to pay attention. These women are often equal to, if not better than, the people you are. Sometimes you're looking better than the guy you know, so having her reduced like that really bothered me because this is her record, yeah, and unless you can show me who has a better record than this, that's why she's getting the attention that is. she getting C's, she's a very good player and it doesn't matter if she's straight or gay, no one cries when she makes those balls I I I