‘Not Something I Can Control’: Caitlin Clark Speaks Out On Being Used In Culture Wars

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark isn’t bothered by the way her name’s been used in culture war debates within the worlds of sports and politics.

Clark has been at the center of a weeks-long media frenzy since beginning her rookie season in the WNBA. The first one of note came when she took a hard foul from Chennedy Carter of the Chicago Sky. Some accused Carter of being jealous of Clark’s popularity.

Not long after, that conversation evolved into heated debates about race and sexuality in the WNBA. OutKick’s Clay Travis even claimed Clark — a straight White woman — was the victim of discrimination in a “Black lesbian league.”

Clay Travis claims Caitlin Clark is a victim of discrimination against “white heterosexual women in a black lesbian league” pic.twitter.com/vvwexzPCV3

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 4, 2024

The following week, the outrage continued when it was revealed Clark had not been selected to join the U.S. women’s national team for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Again, the conversation became about WNBA players resenting her.

When asked Thursday how she felt about being “weaponized” in these non-sports discussions, Clark said she didn’t pay much attention to it.

“It’s not something I can control,” she told the media during the team’s shootaround, “so I don’t put too much thought and time into thinking about things like that; and, to be honest, I don’t see a lot of it. Like I’ve said, basketball is my job. Everything on the outside, I can’t control that, so I’m not gonna spend time thinking about that. People can talk about what they wanna talk about, create conversations about whatever it is; but I think for myself, I’m just here to play basketball. I’m here to have fun. I’m trying to help our team win.”

Though she said she doesn’t hear most of the outside noise, she was asked if it still bothered her the way people use her to push their own agendas unrelated to the sport.

“No,” she responded. “I don’t see it. That’s not where my focus is. Again, my focus is here and on basketball; and that’s where it needs to be. That’s where it has been, and I’m just trying to get better on a daily basis.”

Watch above via The Athletic.