Caitlin Clark was recently hailed as TIME Magazine’s 2024 Athlete of the Year. Among the many things that Clark has touched on, a few sparked controversies, raised several eyebrows, and triggered a wide range of reactions. One of which is from entrepreneur and podcast host, Patrick Bet-David, who thought that Clakr “f***ed up” her interview.
In one of the episodes of his PDB Podcast program, Bet-David and his co-hosts talked about Clark’s feature in TIME Magazine and the recognition she received. They also highlighted one particular quote from the Indiana Fever star, where she talked about acknowledging “white privilege,” as well as her desire to use her platform to “elevate black women” in the WNBA.
Bet-David thought that the speech was “unattractive,” and was disappointed that Clark even touched on the topic at all.
“What an unattractive acceptance speech. I’m so upset and disappointed with this,” Bet-David said. “Why can’t you just not make a comment like that? Just play the game, you’re playing a game.”
The entrepreneur went on to praise how Clark managed to gather viewership that the WNBA had never seen before.
“You don’t get 18.9 million viewers in a college championship game—that’s more than the NBA Finals,” he said. “You know why you get it? It’s because the world is obsessed with competition. Reese against Caitlin, all that stuff, they love competition.”
However, he thought that her comments on her recent interview “f***ed things up.”
“For me she screwed up,” he went on. “She f***ed up because she could have brought a new audience to the WNBA but she f***ed up because she caved and the people in WNBA the executive team think they did the right thing.”
“They just f***ed up.”
Caitlin Clark’s Comment on “White Privilege”
In her TIME interview, Caitlin Clark talked about her rise to stardom and fame, as she gave credit partly to what she called her “white privilege.”
“I want to say I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege,” Clark said.
She then went on to express her desire to “elevate” black women in the WNBA.
“The more we can appreciate that, highlight that, talk about that, and then continue to have brands and companies invest in those players that have made this league incredible, I think it’s very important. I have to continue to try to change that. The more we can elevate Black women, that’s going to be a beautiful thing.”
Right now, Caitlin Clark is enjoying her off-season from the WNBA and is expected to get back to the court once the 2025 season opens.
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Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.