Former American women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe spoke out against USA Today journalist Christine Brennan for asking WNBA player DiJonai Carrington about an incident in which she gave Caitlin Clark a black eye.
Clark suffered the black eye when Carrington poked her with one of her fingernails in Clark’s first playoff game on Sept. 22.
Brennan asked Carrington about the incident and if she did it on purpose during a media scrum on Sept. 24 ahead of Game 2 between the Connecticut Sun and Indiana Fever. Carrington responded by insisting it was not on purpose.
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Rapinoe commented on the exchange during an episode of her podcast, “A Touch More with Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe,” on Wednesday, saying the question was “loaded” and “felt racist.”
“Hearing it initially, my visceral reaction was, ‘That’s not good, that doesn’t feel good, that feels racist, to be honest. That feels like you’re putting DiJonai in an impossible situation,'” Rapinoe said.
“I think it is so disingenuous for Christine Brennan and other media members to say, ‘I’m just asking the question,’ but really what’s happening is your natural instinct to protect and narrate White players vs. go after and narrate Black players, that to me is really the issue.”
Rapinoe and Bird, her spouse, mocked the idea that Carrington was even capable of intentionally poking Clark in the eye.
Indiana’s Caitlin Clark is shown after being hit in the eye during the first round of the WNBA Playoffs at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., on Sept. 22, 2024. (Mark Smith-Imagn Images)
“The premise of the question relies on the belief that DiJonai is targeting, that DiJonai specifically swatted or swiped into Caitlin’s eyeball. First of all, the square-footage of her eyeball is very small. Do you know how hard it is to poke someone in the eye?” Rapinoe said.
Bird added, “That was my first thought. Do you know how difficult it would be to aim and poke someone in the eye?”
Both Bird and Rapinoe also went on to passionately deny the notion that Clark has been targeted this year by opposing players, calling the idea “disingenuous.”
Many of Clark’s fans have expressed outrage in her rookie year over instances in which she was physically handled by opposing players.
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Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever reacts after a flagrant foul committed by the Chicago Sky at Wintrust Arena on August 30, 2024, in Chicago. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
Clark took an illegal hip check from Chicago Sky forward Chennedy Carter on June 1 when the Sky player charged right into the Fever rookie and knocked her down during a stoppage in play. Clark said after the game that Carter’s hit “was not a basketball play.”
Sky rookie and Clark’s longtime rival, Angel Reese, slammed her arm onto Clark’s head while trying to block a layup in a game between the two teams on June 16. Then in August, Sky player Diamond DeShields sent Clark flying and then sliding across the hardwood on a play that was later upgraded to a flagrant-1 foul.
Carrington’s incident, which gave Clark a black eye, was the most recent example, but it wasn’t called a foul. Just days after Brennan questioned Carrington about it, the WNBA player’s union released a statement on Sept. 27 condemning her for the question.
“To unprofessional members of the media like Christine Brennan: You are not fooling anyone. That so-called interview in the name of journalism was a blatant attempt to bait a professional athlete into participating in a narrative that is false and designed to fuel racist, homophobic, and misogynistic vitriol on social media. You cannot hide behind your tenure.”
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Indiana guard Caitlin Clark shouts in pain as she is helped by her teammates after suffering an injury during the second quarter against Connecticut, May 20, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Jeffrey Brown/Icon Sportswire)
The statement went on to accuse Brennan of “abus[ing] your privileges,” adding she does “not deserve the credentials issued to you.” The union also called on USA Today to take action.
Brennan defended her question during an interview on CNN this week.
“I’d ask that question 100 times out of 100. I’d ask it today. The athlete has every opportunity to then take that question and go with it any way she wants. And obviously she did. So, that’s the opportunity that I think any journalist gives an athlete when you’re covering a story, to give them the opportunity to give their side of it,” Brennan said.
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