Former WNBA legend Sue Bird engaged in an impassioned discussion on the A Touch More podcast with fiancée and former U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team star Megan Rapinoe about the racist WNBA fan base and vicious trolling of players on social media.
Bird also defended Indiana Fever rookie star Caitlin Clark, saying she was being used as a "pawn" by racist trolls to spread racism to Clark's team.
Bird, who is the only WNBA player to win titles in three different decades, believes racism existed in the WNBA fandom before Clark joined the league.
"Could we just call a spade a spade?" remarked Bird and continued:
“Racism has been impacting the WNBA well before this year, this is not a new thing. In that way, I do think Caitlin’s being used as a pawn."
She continued:
"Caitlin didn't bring racism to the WNBA. This has been happening. And that, I think, has been a shock for all of us."
"That other people are surprised by this. We've been trying to tell you."
You can watch the podcast episode here.
- YouTubeyoutu.be
Talk of racism centered on WNBA players as viewership increased recently started in Clark's college basketball days and her rivalry with Chicago Sky star Angel Reese.
Reese, who is Black, opened up about the death threats she faced online as she rose to stardom in an April press conference. "I'm still a human," she said tearfully as she talked about the online abuse she suffered since winning the national championship.
Bird said that as a player she would have almost joked, "I would've loved to shut up and dribble."
She explained to Rapinoe:
"In so many ways, I would've loved to have been valued as a basketball player. I would have loved to have been spoken about just for my play. I think everybody in the league can say that."
“But nobody ever let us do that. So what happened? We started to build a backbone, a little bit of an identity."
"We understood that in order to push our league forward we were gonna have to combat these things."
“And then you know what else we learned? A, it feels good to stand up for yourself, it feels even better to stand up for others."
"We started to learn people were learning from us and able to follow us in a different way, and who are we following? Black women.”
Bird added that she was "sad" that the conversation is still not centered around basketball. "We're still not allowed to be focused on for our basketball play," she said, before clarifying that they're not going to stop addressing these issues.
She added:
"That'll always exist in the fabric of our league. But we still aren't talking about basketball."
Bird's comments also followed Clark condemning her team's racist fanbase. During last Wednesday's team exit interviews, Clark said:
“It’s definitely upsetting… Nobody really should be facing any sort of racism, hurtful, disrespectful, hateful comments and threats. Those aren’t fans, those are trolls."
The same week, Connecticut Sun star Alyssa Thomas and coach Stephanie White condemned racism leveled at WNBA players by the Indiana Fever fanbase.
“I think that in my 11-year career, I never experienced the racial comments like from the Indiana Fever fan base," said Thomas, following her team finishing a sweep of the Indiana Fever from last week's opening round of playoffs.
Thomas added:
“It’s unacceptable and honestly there’s no place for it."
"We’ve been professional throughout the whole entire thing, but I’ve never been called the things that I’ve been called on social media, and there’s no place for it.”
WNBA players and their union have criticized Commissioner Cathy Engelbert for doing a “disservice to the majority” of the league amidst the players facing racist abuse online.
Following the comments citing racist abuse, the WNBA defended its players in a statement, saying:
“The WNBA is a competitive league with some of the most elite athletes in the world."
"While we welcome a growing fan base, the WNBA will not tolerate racist, derogatory, or threatening comments made about players, teams and anyone affiliated with the league.”
"League security is actively monitoring threat-related activity and will work directly with teams and arenas to take appropriate measures, to include involving law enforcements, as necessary."
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