On Saturday, while most basketball fans were celebrating the Knicks win over the Celtics and waiting for Game 7 between the Nuggets and Thunder, a highly anticipated WNBA game between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever quickly snatched the attention away.
What started as a hard foul by the Fever’s Caitlin Clark on the Sky’s Angel Reese quickly morphed into an exemplification of societal issues.
After the foul, the two had words, Clark was assessed a flagrant one and Reese stepped to the line to take free throws.
And that’s when the first issue arose.
While Reese was shooting, the Fever allegedly played sound effects that some say resembled jungle noises, fueling claims that it incited fans to make monkey noises at Reese, who is a constant target of harassment and hate.
That prompted the WNBA to issue a statement denouncing racism hate and stating they are investigating the incident.
“The WNBA strongly condemns racism, hate, and discrimination in all forms – they have no place in our league or in society. We are aware of the allegations and are looking into the matter.”
After the game, social media erupted over the treatment of Reese, the hatred she constantly faces, the tension between Reese and Clark, the role race plays in their relationship and more.
All of these emotions and debates flaring up over a simple, meaningless foul.
After a day of rage, one would think that it would subside, but no for some chose to further fuel the outrage by discussing it on their social media platforms.
One of those people was former NFL player, Robert Griffin III aka RGIII.
“After watching Caitlin Clark’s flagrant foul on Angel Reese and the aftermath, there is no way Angel Reese can continue the lie that she doesn’t dislike Caitlin Clark,” posted RGIII. “I know what hatred looks like. Angel Reese HATES Caitlin Clark. Not some basketball rivalry hate either. Hate.”
Griffin was then ripped by fans, journalists and other media personalities for his take.
One of those was ESPN analyst Ryan Clark.
“RGIII saying he could recognize “hate when ‘he’ see(s) it”, when referring to Angel Reese’s feelings toward Caitlin Clark was irresponsible, but not at all surprising. Clark’s the biggest star in women’s basketball, & deservedly so. No need to beat up Reese to add shine to it,” posted Clark on X on Monday.
“RGIII plays into the narrative that Reese is the villain of Clark’s hero origin story. Now, Oberman & Portnoy, who berated Reese in college, have an ally in Griffin. Add him to the list of black men who’ve adopted the corny trend of denigrating black women to affirm their choices.”
And that set it off.
