‘It’s true, Karen’: Outraged Caitlin Clark fans call Serena Williams ‘racist’ over Larry Bird ESPYs joke, fans rush to tennis star’s defense

Serena Williams hosted the 2024 ESPY Awards, and while she addressed Drake’s feud with Kendrick Lamar, her views on Harrison Butker, and her conflict with Maria Sharapova, her statement on Caitlin Clark was met with much criticism.

The 2024 ESPY Awards aired July 11 on ABC. Williams opened the show with a gap monologue concerning the WNBA rookie.

“Caitlin Clark had an incredible year and she’s nominated for three awards,” Williams began. Celebrities within the audience applauded as Williams appeared to praise Clark. However, when Williams told the second half of the joke, she seemed to receive mixed reactions. “You’re Larry Bird because you’re an incredible player, you have ties to Indiana, and white people are really crazy about you,” the tennis icon joked.

Although Williams touched on a wide selection of topics throughout the evening and plenty of were pleased along with her efforts, a few of Clark’s fans criticized Williams for bringing up race in her joke.

“Why bring race into this?” – one person he wrote on X. Another person responded to the query by suggesting that Clark’s race contributed to her appeal. “Because race is what drives Clark’s popularity,” she said he wrote.

One viewer questioned whether Williams’ joke was “appropriate.”

“So if a white person made the same joke about her? At the ESPYs? Appropriate? Shannon Sharpe wouldn’t blow a fuse? Now I hope this sinks in a bit… Funny thing is reading the comments… all races like her, including whites,” the social media user wrote he said.

“Has Serena Williams always been this racist, or is this something new? An attempt at staying relevant, a new fan of racial essentialism, or what?” social media account he asked.

“Serena: How vulgar can you be: “CAITLIN CLARK, white people love you!” Not funny, artificial, archaic in intent, insensitive, classless, ignorant and vulgar. (Charles Barkley, LeBron and other black people like me – I LOVE CAITLIN.) Maybe you should quit hosting the show forever?!” said one other offended fan.

“I hope the writers of this whole thing wrote Williams Sisters instead,” wrote user X. “Everyone thought Serena wasn’t black when she was on Vogue Runway a month ago. So I guess ESPN had to reinstate her blackness with a TOTALLY UNNECESSARY racist joke about CC. If this were the 70s or 80s, it would have been pretty funny. But not now, with this absurd black/white divide.”

Amid the noise of the opposition, Serena’s supporters emerged to defend the tennis legend.

“No, they didn’t call Serena Williams jealous of everything. People get upset about everything CC related” he tweeted fan.

“Serena Williams joked about Caitlin Clark earlier. She doesn’t hate her and has already praised her,” she said other.

“Ugh, the truth doesn’t divide. That’s true Karen. Many white people like you worship Caitlin and live vicariously through her. It’s funny, you think we don’t see that. I’m glad Serena spoke some truth, she clearly provoked you” – User X he replied in defense of Serena.

Another X user addressed a black Caitlin Clark fan who took Serena’s comment as implying that Clark’s fans are exclusively white.

“There’s nothing wrong with comparing Caitlin to Larry Bird (legend!!!)… Serena didn’t say “white people only”… in fact black people love Caitlin and Bird too… there’s absolutely nothing to cause a stir here,” they said. he wrote.

During the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival in New York, Williams praised Clark for her social media discipline. “I just love that she tried to stay grounded and that she doesn’t… look at her social media,” Williams told TAssociated Press on the red carpet on June 14. “I get it. I don’t either. And I think it’s really important to continue what she’s doing.”

Williams attended the festival for the premiere of her documentary series, “In the Arena: Serena Williams.” In the film, Williams discusses how she handled the extreme media scrutiny from a young age.

Others even dragged Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, into the ESPYs controversy.

“Serena’s husband is white,” someone said. he wrote.

Ohanian is the co-founder of the social media platform Reddit. He is from Brooklyn, New York, and his surname is Armenian. The couple has two children.

Clark was nominated in three ESPY categories: Best Women’s Athlete, Best Women’s College Athlete and Best Record-breaking Performance. Two-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson beat Clark out for Best Women’s Athlete.