Far-left former ESPN host Jemele Hill can’t stand the fact that Iowa superstar point guard Caitlin Clark’s record-breaking senior season is attracting record audiences to women’s basketball.
If you guessed Hill’s indignation was in any way related to Clark’s skin pigmentation, then you’ve been paying attention to sports media.
Hill, a social justice warrior posing as a journalist and who currently writes for The Atlantic, ranted in an interview with Uproxx this past week that Clark is overshadowing black athletes.
Per Hill, Clark is leading women’s basketball to new heights because she is white and she is not solely responsible for elevating basketball for women.
“Everything about this sport has been trending up for years now. It did not just start with Caitlin Clark, but they’re treating it like it did,” she said of sports media.
She added, “And so it’s already creating a false narrative that is doing the public a disservice.”
The raving racist continued:
“If you look at WNBA ratings or women’s college basketball ratings, they have been exploding for at least the last seven to (10) years — or I would even say five to seven if you want a shorter window. And so, it’s been proven that people really enjoy the sport.
“They enjoy the stars in the sport, but they enjoy the sport itself. And I’m not completely convinced that the media understands the difference.”
Do you disagree with Hill?
Hill then cited A’ja Wilson, the former South Carolina-turned-Las Vegas Aces forward, who she said never got the attention Clark is receiving, but is equally as talented.
“[Wilson]’s probably the best player in the world right now,” Hill argued. “And I’m not trying to act like she gets no coverage, but the coverage that sometimes non-white women get.”
Hill did offer some praise for Clark but she of course offered a disclaimer.
“Caitlin Clark seems to be a great personality, but it is not like Caitlin Clark is walking around saying crazy stuff,” she said. “[The media is] just covering her excellence, and that’s good enough.”
She concluded, “Whereas it feels like for Black athletes to get the same amount of coverage or even fair coverage, there has to be something extra.”
In short, if Caitlin Clark were anything but white, Hill would probably have said either nothing or would be joining the rest of the civilized world in celebrating her accomplishments.
Race baiters are gonna race bait.
Clark is getting attention because she has spent all season breaking records and doing so with class and humility.
She is arguably the best female shooter of all time and is as likable of a person as a Walmart greeter.
Since Hill’s comments, Clark has become the all-time women’s NCAA Division I scoring leader and also has the most career points in Division I history – holding that record against men and women, according to ESPN.
Clark also has the most made career 3-point field goals and the most career assists in NCAA tournament history, just to name a few of her accomplishments.
The Iowa star drew in more than 12 million sets of eyeballs during her team’s Elite Eight game against LSU on Monday, making it the most-watched women’s basketball game in American history, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
No other female athlete of any color has collected so many accolades at just the right time and in a time of year without other major sporting events to compete with.
But to Hill’s point, Clark does seem to be resonating more with audiences and reporters than anyone who came before her.
It’s not because she’s white, but because she’s special on and off the court.
It also probably doesn’t hurt her case that there are no political undertones about her game and she has never spent time in a Russian prison for a drug violation.
