Indiana Fever star rookie Caitlin Clark pushed back against online commenters who have used her name in discussions to denigrate other WNBA players, saying any racist or misogynistic comments are "not acceptable."
"People should not be using my name to push those agendas. It's disappointing. It's not acceptable," Clark said Thursday when asked about the comments. "... Treating every single woman in this league with the same amount of respect, I think, it's just a basic human thing that everybody should do."
Due to Clark's fame, along with being a white basketball player, her name has been brought up in culture wars and online debates, including why she was left off the Team USA Olympic basketball roster and reacting to a number of hard fouls committed against the rookie early in her WNBA career.
Clark had said earlier Thursday that bringing her up online was "not something I can control."
"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," Clark said. "Basketball is my job. Everything on the outside, I can't control that, so I'm not going to spend time thinking about that."
That quote, and previous comments from Clark about staying off social media, drew a rebuke from Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington, who posted to social media that Clark should do more to speak out about people using her name for inappropriate means.
"Dawg. How one can not be bothered by their name being used to justify racism, bigotry, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia & the intersectionalities of them all is nuts," Carrington wrote. "We all see the [s---]. We all have a platform. We all have a voice & they all hold weight. Silence is a luxury."
Carrington and Clark had a notable interaction during the Sun's win over the Fever on Monday, when Carrington appeared to exaggeratedly mock Clark's reaction to being fouled. Carrington dismissed at least one social media post from a user who said she would have been ejected for her actions if she were white.
Information from Field Level Media was used in this report.