May 3, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) laughs before the game against the Dallas Wings at College Park Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
WNBA: Preseason-Indiana Fever at Dallas Wings
(New York, NY) – Caitlin Clark is just trying to get her feet wet as she begins her rookie season with the Indiana Fever in the WNBA. But many in the media aren’t talking about her hoops. Instead, they’re focused on the color of her skin.
That was true earlier this week when Atlantic scribe Jemele Hill suggested Clark was benefiting from being a white, straight woman.
She suggested that’s atypical in the WNBA, which employs so many black and lesbian players. From there, “white privilege” and “pretty privilege” was the topic on ABC’s The View. Co-host Sunny Hostin said of Clark “I do think that there is a thing called pretty privilege.
There is a thing called White privilege. There is a thing called tall privilege, and we have to acknowledge that, and so part of it is about race, because if you think about the Brittney Griners of the world, why did she have to go to play in Russia? Because they wouldn’t pay her,” Hostin argued.
Jemele Hill’s article had spurred the on-air discussion. Hostin also bizarrely expressed her hope others would benefit from “pretty” or “white” privilege.
“Now, Caitlin Clark is bringing this money, these sponsorships, we hope, into the league and other players will benefit from it. But I do think that she is more relatable to more people because she’s White, because she’s attractive, and unfortunately, there still is that stigma against the LGBTQ+ community,” Hostin said, agreeing with Hill’s article.
Alyssa Farah Griffin, one of the panel’s only conservatives, said race is not a factor in her enjoyment of Clark’s play: “so fun to watch,” she said, noting race is not a reason.
