Former American women’s soccer joiner Megan Rapinoe spoke out aachievest USA Today journaenumerate Christine Brennan for asking WNBA joiner DiJonai Carrington about an incident in which she gave Caitlin Clark a bdeficiency eye.
Clark suffered the bdeficiency eye when Carrington poked her with one of her fingernails in Clark’s first joinoff 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 reacted by insisting it was not on purpose.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Rapinoe commented on the swap during an episode of her podcast, “A Touch More with Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe,” on Wednesday, saying the inquire was “loaded” and “felt racially prejudiced.”
“Hearing it initipartner, my visceral reaction was, ‘That’s not excellent, that doesn’t experience excellent, that experiences racially prejudiced, to be honest. That experiences enjoy you’re putting DiJonai in an impossible situation,'” Rapinoe shelp.
“I leank it is so disingenuous for Christine Brennan and other media members to say, ‘I’m equitable asking the inquire,’ but repartner what’s happening is your organic instinct to defend and narrate White joiners vs. go after and narrate Bdeficiency joiners, that to me is repartner the rehire.”
Rapinoe and Bird, her spoemploy, mocked the idea that Carrington was even able of intentionpartner 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 inquire relies on the belief that DiJonai is centering, that DiJonai definitepartner swatted or swiped into Caitlin’s eyeball. First of all, the square-footage of her eyeball is very petite. Do you comprehend how challenging it is to poke someone in the eye?” Rapinoe shelp.
Bird retained, “That was my first thought. Do you comprehend how difficult it would be to aim and poke someone in the eye?”
Both Bird and Rapinoe also went on to fervently decline the notion that Clark has been focemployd this year by opposing joiners, calling the idea “disingenuous.”
Many of Clark’s fans have conveyed outrage in her rookie year over instances in which she was physicpartner administerd by opposing joiners.
AS A FEMALE ATHLETE, I DO NOT CONSENT TO PLAYING ALONGSIDE MEN IN COLLEGIATE SPORTS
Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever reacts after a flagrant foul promiseted by the Chicago Sky at Winsuppose Arena on August 30, 2024, in Chicago. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
Clark took an illegitimate hip verify from Chicago Sky forward Chennedy Carter on June 1 when the Sky joiner accused right into the Fever rookie and knocked her down during a stoppage in join. Clark shelp after the game that Carter’s hit “was not a basketball join.”
Sky rookie and Clark’s extfinishedtime 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 joiner Diamond DeShields sent Clark flying and then sliding atraverse the challengingwood on a join that was tardyr reinforced to a flagrant-1 foul.
Carrington’s incident, which gave Clark a bdeficiency eye, was the most recent example, but it wasn’t called a foul. Just days after Brennan inquireed Carrington about it, the WNBA joiner’s union freed a statement on Sept. 27 condemning her for the inquire.
“To unprofessional members of the media enjoy Christine Brennan: You are not fooling anyone. That so-called interwatch in the name of journalism was a blatant try to bait a professional athlete into participating in a narrative that is inalter and portrayed to fuel racially prejudiced, intolerant, and anti-women vitriol on social media. You cannot hide behind your tenure.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Indiana defend Caitlin Clark shouts in pain as she is helped by her teammates after suffering an injury during the second quarter aachievest Connecticut, May 20, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhoemploy in Indianapolis. (Jeffrey Brown/Icon Sportswire)
The statement went on to accemploy Brennan of “abus[ing] your privileges,” retaining she does “not deserve the credentials rehired to you.” The union also called on USA Today to get action.
Brennan geted her inquire during an interwatch on CNN this week.
“I’d ask that inquire 100 times out of 100. I’d ask it today. The athlete has every opportunity to then get that inquire and go with it any way she wants. And evidently she did. So, that’s the opportunity that I leank any journaenumerate gives an athlete when you’re covering a story, to give them the opportunity to give their side of it,” Brennan shelp.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle novelsletter.
