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Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark says she found the accusations that fellow women’s basketball player Angel Reese was “taunting” her “frustrating.”
Clark opened up about the controversy in the new ESPN+ docuseries “Full Court Press,” which follows the 2023-24 college women’s basketball season of Clark, Kiki Rice, and Kamilla Cardoso, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the players.
According to video excerpts posted on May 11 by Women Hooping, Clark says of the “taunting” accusations, “That’s the only thing people wanted to talk about when we just went on this magical run and united so many people, and that was frustrating to me.”
The “taunting” accusations sprang from an on-court gesture used by both Reese and Clark.
Caitlin Clark & Angel Reese Both Spoke About the Gestures in Post-Game Media Interviews
The controversy ignited when Reese, then playing for LSU, “mimicked a previous celebration” by Clark, according to the video.
According to Fox Sports, Reese made the “you can’t see me” gesture towards Clark during an LSU-University of Iowa game, “a signal made famous by wrestling star John Cena.”
She “then pointed towards her ring finger in a reference to the championship ring she was about to win” and followed Clark “around the basketball court in the final moments of the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament championship game,” Fox Sports reported.
However, although Reese was criticized, Fox Sports reported that Clark had made the same Cena gesture “in Iowa’s Elite Eight win over Louisville when she had a 40-point triple-double.” Some people argued the criticism of Reese showed a racial double standard because Clark did not receive similar backlash when she made the same gesture at an earlier game, according to Fox Sports.
The “Women Hooping” video starts with clips of the two women making the gestures, followed by an excerpt of Reese in a post-game media interview saying, “I’m too hood; I’m too ghetto. Y’all told me that all year. But when other people do it, y’all don’t say nothing.”
She continued, according to Fox Sports, “So this is for the girls that look like me. That’s going to speak up in what they believe in.”
The video then switches to a scene of Clark fielding a question from a reporter during a post-game media interview.
“There’s a lot blowing up on Twitter about Angel Reese following you around, pointing to her ring finger, taunting you,” the unidentified journalist asks.
“Honestly, I have no idea. I was just trying to get to the handshake line and shake hands and be grateful that my team was in that position,” Clark says.
Iowa’s Coach Says the Media Tried to ‘Create a Circus Out of Racial Things’
Iowa coach Lisa Bluder also discussed the Reese controversy in the excerpts of the docuseries: “The media was trying to create a circus out of racial things, out of trying to make hatred come up, and she [Clark] just wouldn’t let it happen,” she says.
Clark is then depicted making the comment about being frustrated.
The video concludes with Clark tearing up in a post-game media interview.
“I want my legacy to be the impact I can have on young kids and the people in the state of Iowa,” Clark says in the video. “I hope I brought them a lot of joy this season. I hope this team brought them a lot of joy. I was just that young girl, and all you have to do is dream, and you can be in moments like this.”
She added: “I’m a competitor. I want to be in the national title game again. It’s like you want to end it the right away.”
“Full Court Press” started airing on May 11. According to ESPN+, “From a season of record-breaking moments to the WNBA draft, the four-episode series offers viewers exclusive interviews, game footage, and more during what was a historic year for women’s college basketball.”
How and when can you watch it? On Friday, May 10, 2024, ESPN+ wrote: “Episodes 1 and 2 premiere Saturday starting at 1 p.m. ET, and Episodes 3 and 4 on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET. All four episodes will be televised on ABC and will stream live on the ESPN App. All episodes will be available on demand on ESPN+ following initial broadcast.”
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