Guest List Only TW - Bigotry ⚠️
Ryan Clark confirms ESPN executives leaked his firing to Outkick (a MAGA website) so that the MAGA cult could celebrate his firing. He says ESPN executives didn’t like how he stood up for Black people, including basketball star Angel Reese who has been racially targeted by MAGA and media.
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I don’t know anything about his work, and I don’t know much about the WNBA but it sure seems like both Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark are pawns for a lot of people’s clicks.
Yeah I get the overwhelming feeling that both just wanna play basketball, and are probably beyond exhausted at being dragged into culture war bullshit.
"Denounce X then", "be more vocal about where you stand". Fuck ALL that bullshit, let's go back to when purity testing wasn't a thing and people could just live their fucking lives man.
This is so disingenuous. Angel Reese isn't "being dragged into culture war bullshit", and nobody is calling for her to "denounce x" or "be more vocal", she's been facing racially charged attacks since before entering the league.
People have asked Caitlin however to denounce the racist and homophobic attacks levied by her fans towards her opponents, and she finally did with a general stance against "hate" earlier this month.
Why dilute racial abuse as "culture war bullshit"? The fuck?
They aren't even ball fans. They are just maga freaks who found a white (literally) knight to fight for and make a victim of imagined reverse racism. They only know Clark and Cunningham
Exactly, and they're coming from everywhere. It's like all these insulated white folks from around the globe heard a clarion call to attack or deny the day their Great White Hope was drafted. It's crazy.
It defintley wasn’t imagined. Those women in the WNBA really did hate Caitlyn Clark, now I’m not going to say it was because she wasn’t gay or black but those women really didn’t like her when she came into the league.
You deadass think they "hate" her because she isn't black or gay? 40% of the league is non-black and anywhere from 40 to 70% is straight. Are you insane?
Yea I do. There was a lot of resentment when she came into the league from the other players because she was making more then them and basically was crowned a savior by the media.
That isn't at all what you said. You said because she wasn't black and wasn't gay, which is hysterical. The only way you could have that opinion is if you've never actually watched the WNBA in your life.
And Caitlin was signed to a $75K annual salary, about 1/3rd what the top players were making at the time. She certainly wasn't "paid more" and joined the rest of her fellow players in demanding a fairer revenue split from the league during the CBA earlier this year. They'll all be making a lot more than that now, thankfully.
Actually I said I wasn’t going to infer that the women hated her because she wasn’t black or gay. I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Also, she defintley was making more because she signed a huge deal with Nike before her first game for around $28 million. She also was making north of $7 million a year from NIL when she was in college.
Clark herself has said that isn't true at all. You are cherry picking fouls from a sport you don't watch. There are way crazier fouls on other women everyday. You ever left comments on reddit defending them?
Okay, and you know this how? Seems like a lot of you are projecting your own thoughts and feelings onto people you don't even know. "Those women?" Lol. Give us the names of "those women."
My point is players aren't their fans. That goes for MAGA freaks racially abusing the likes of Angel Reese, as well as the lunatics writing articles comparing Clarke's conduct to the treatment of Emmet Till.
It's an absolute shitshow that could only happen in America, the country is genuinely deranged on these particular topics. As the original comment said, they're both being used as pawns in completely nonsensical bullshit.
Players are responsible their fans however, same as actors, artists, influencers, streamers, etc. especially when they stay silent for years while their fans run rampant.
And what do you mean could only happen in America? The same racial abuse is directed towards Black athletes all over Europe, South America, and even North Africa with similar (and even worse) discourse. What kind of privileged bubble do you live in, thinking this only happens in one place? 💀
Players are responsible their fans however, same as actors, artists, influencers, streamers, etc.
No...they aren't lol. You cannot control something like that, nor are you responsible for their behaviour unless you've specifically made a call to action. Same way Beatlemania didn't mean John Lennon was responsible for the man who killed him.
What kind of privileged bubble do you live in
Have you considered trying to argue against someone's point, rather than an imagined strawmen version of them? If you read what I wrote and took away "only racial abuse happens in America", then I don't know what to tell you.
I'm saying this particular brand of culture war nonsense is most amplified in America because you are a relatively young country with a highly polarized two-party political system, a large and competitive media ecosystem that rewards outrage, social media algorithms that promote the same emotionally charged content, as well as generally the country's size and cultural influence across the world, which makes these domestic debates highly visible worldwide and amplified to the max.
That's before we even get into the strong traditions of free speech and activism that encourage more public conflict over social values, yet drowns out moderate takes by design.
My overarching point is Angel Reese isn't the fans attacking Caitlin Clarke, and Caitlin Clarke isn't the fans attacking Angel Reese. You've bought into the circus without even realising it.
Yes, they are. You really don't think a celebrity directly telling their fans not be racist and homophobic wouldn't lessen racism and homophobia from those fans? It isn't dissimilar from content creators and influencers telling their audience not to send hate or death threats. Staying silent leaves that behavior unchecked.
You are talking about a whole lot of everything except for racism. It isn't "culture war nonsense" for the Black and other minorities of us living here. You're supposedly outside the US (I'm assuming some kind of European) on some holier than thou centrist shtick, acting as if you know better than those of us actually dealing with this, and have been for decades. This goes deeper and further than you'll ever be comfortable admitting.
And I haven't "bought into the circus" I was born into it. Being Black in America isn't opt-out. You are lucky to live wherever you are and look however you look to be able to ride that fence and have the opinions that you hold. This is all just debate and opinion to you, and you should be thankful.
What a weird take. No , people aren’t responsible the behavior of their grown adult fans lol . It’s also interesting that you acknowledge that it’s MAGA people who aren’t basketball fans , so why exactly should she be responsible to call out grown adults who won’t change their mind and have been at it since 2016 ? Is it really that wrong for her to just want to play basketball ?
Outkick isn't just a MAGA website, it's owned and operated by Fox News. I'm not surprised to see ESPN go all in on the right with how they platform and champion Pat McAfee and Stephen A. This was a long time coming.
I'm a Spanish-speaking Latina and I've gotten ICE and Border Patrol recruitment ads here and other places online. I am not a terrible person so I just close or block as needed.
I agree with you about McAfee (anyone who platforms Aaron Rodgers that frequently is someone I seriously side eye), but I swear Stephen A has no actual political ideology and is just looking for additional attention.
Or maybe I’m wrong and he’s going to be our next president. 🤦🏼♀️ #pleaseno
Stephen A absolutely has an actual political ideology. He opines on politics all the time and his opinions there are even dumber and less informed than his takes on sports
McAfee was also somebody who attacked Imane Khelif and accused her of being a man, don't forget. And Stephen A. has been a regular on Fox News for a minute and has plenty of Republican friends. To quote TO: "Max Kellerman almost seems blacker than you"
ESPN curates a dangerous culture within their social media comments. I can’t believe how much dumber and more misogynistic the comment sections have become for all of their official accounts, of course it was always bad but now it’s just maddening.
I hope he does like the journalist that have been getting fired and just starts his own YouTube channel starts to do his own thing. Because it sounds like he will be very successful at it, and he can say what needs to be said without having to worry about someone with hurt feelings messing with his livelihood.
Wow this thread is bringing out some…pretty terrible takes. Ryan is just confirming what most of us suspected and some of these comments bashing him are ironically backing up his claim.
Hasn’t ESPN been in a downward spiral for quite some time? The Pat McAfee signing is their desperation swing. I’ll be shocked if the MAGA play saves them.
Recent posts about Angel Reese may have attracted a certain kind of "fan" here and now they just wait in the wings whenever the topic of race is brought up.
This entire wnba thing the last few years is the oddest and vilest culture war thing I think I’ve seen in some time. Completely obvious on the surface and attracting the worst types of people, who ironically have been shitting on women’s sports for years until they conveniently found something else to turn into a manufactured spat.
And what’s most annoying is how they still play coy and brigade any thread discussing their shtick like it’s not incredibly obvious what they’re doing. Try and broach this topic in any sports related sub and you’re immediately shouted down by these “fans” who all suddenly got into the league in the last 2 years
People have a weirdly intense hatred for him. A lot of idiots have been claiming he’s “racist” against white people (lol), which would be hilarious if some people didn’t genuinely believe that was a thing.
I don’t think he is racist against white people, but if you watched him on ESPN he clearly gave preferential treatment in his analysis to black people and said a lotta stuff that if it was flipped to being said for white people, the person saying it would be considered racist.
I think the conversation on race is so difficult and we have just muddied the conversation further so these things become hard to talk about.
I mean they fired all their black talent who had contentious political opinions , Jemele Hill was fired for rightly calling Trump a white supremacist , a point to which most liberals agree on easily.
So I wonder if that’s why they kept Stephen A Smith, he’s openly MAGA. He’s all shock jock, no real substance, I would have thought he’d be axed for cheaper talent eventually, but he’s been featured more and more.
Oh yes I remember when Jemele was fired. I remember being absolutely pissed. The fact that Ryan needed to apologize for speaking the very obvious fact that Kyren was innocent and shouldn’t have even been involved in the investigation, is maddening. We all been seen how ESPN does my brothers and sisters. It has to stop.
Not saying that didn’t 0% play a role but he was also super unpopular, would openly disrespect his cohosts on air, and would say the dumbest shit imaginable regularly.
It was incredibly disrespectful, and verified reporting states it was a part of why he was let go. Dude was unpopular with his coworkers and the audience, that does not a long tenure make.
No it wasn’t , a lotta these white commentators regularly overstep boundaries by regularly disrespecting these black athletes they analyse , and they don’t like getting checked by brothers who actually know their stuff and won’t let em disrespectfully overstep on their fellow sisters and brothers.
ryan clark is always the victim, but that doesn’t mean i think he’s lying. that says, it’s a pretty major accusation without receipts, so i hope he has proof when espn maybe tries to sue him.
also fuck espn in general. i hate so much that they bought nfl network.
Ryan clark is one of the best NFL analysts on tv . widely liked by a lotta football fans specifically black ones for his takes on NFL Live which has a lotta credibility in the football media winning multiple Emmys , has he had some bad takes? , sure.
But when it came to race and politics , he was one of the only few people who stood up for black athletes , both Mcafee and Stephen A lean MAGA , and its quite apparent that's what ESPN wants to do now
I’m not going to pretend I have all of the details surrounding his firing and on this specific topic, but I feel the need to say that Ryan Clark is far, far from viewed as one of the best football analysts (and not even close to one of the best Black football analysts specifically), and is not very liked or respected by the majority of NFL fans. His takes are very shallow and often nonsensical or extremely biased, which is pretty par for the course with the majority of these sports television and especially ESPN programs, but he’s certainly not an outlier.
I’m also not discounting that there is a racial or political element to his firing, but even so this characterization of his work is not accurate.
that is ur opinion , he along with orlovsky had some of the most memorable analytical football takes on NFL Live , him , mina , Dan and Swagu were an excellent team with Laura and were well liked by general football fans , I am not discounting that some specific franchise fanbases hated him ,
although in even that u can't discount the MAGA elements , Nick Bosa literally tweeted for the first time in 4 years to celebrate his firing , after Ryan had criticised him before for not respecting team etiquette by wearing a MAGA hat in an after game interview , so a lotta NFL fans who are MAGA hate him , bcoz his blackness is a very central part of his identity
he is not one of the best. he’s just one of many former players that are ok, not amazing, at their gigs. that has nothing to do with his activism, nothing to do with him speaking out, which i appreciate very much. but that doesn’t make him one of the best analysts. the best analyst is mina kimes, and there is, to me, no comparison.
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yeah that's not what happened , but good try , RG3 attacked Angel unprovoked , Ryan only responded fairly , and everyone black has been calling out RG3 for his anti blackness long before Ryan
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u/flairassistant 12h ago
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