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

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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.

Serena Williams (left) faces criticism for her opening monologue at the 2024 ESPY Awards about Caitlin Clark (right) (Photos: @serenawilliams / Instagram; @caitlinclark22 /Instagram)
Serena Williams (left) faces criticism for her 2024 ESPY Awards opening monologue about Caitlin Clark (right) (Photos: @serenawilliams/Instagram, @caitlinclark22 /Instagram)

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.


This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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Netflix sued over streaming issues during Mike Tyson and Jake Paul fight

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Mike Tyson, Jake Paul, Boxing, professional record, July 20, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations


More than 60 million viewers reportedly tuned in to observe the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul boxing match, with many experiencing issues while streaming the event on Netflix. Given the issues one man needed to cope with because of streaming difficulties, he sued the streaming giant for $50 million.

According to , Florida resident Ronald “Blue” Denton filed a class-action lawsuit on November 18. The lawsuit related to a fight between the 2 men on Friday, November 15, which resulted in a unanimous decision victory for Paul over Tyson. The viewer is suing the corporate, amongst others. for breach of contract.

reports Denton wrote: “60 million Americans were thrilled to see “Iron” Mike Tyson, “The Baddest Man on the Planet,” versus award-winning YouTuber Jake Paul.” What they saw was “The Worst Streaming on the Planet.”

As the fight continued, many individuals on social media complained that they were having trouble watching the fight. Some complaints included buffering issues or inability to access the app.

Stating that “over 100,000 people have complained online,” the lawsuit said that “boxing fans, in addition to average Americans wanting to see the legend in what is probably going his final fight, have been faced with legendary issues including lack of access, streaming glitches and buffering issues.”

reported that Netflix admitted it was aware of its customers’ streaming issues during the boxing match.

“We don’t want to downplay the bad experience some members had and know we have a lot of room for improvement, but we still consider this event a huge success.”

Netflix announced that the fight was watched by 60 million people worldwide and peaked at 65 million concurrent streams.

Tyson (58), who has not boxed for several years, is over 30 years older than Paul (27).


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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In 2025, the Basketball Africa League play-offs will move to South Africa

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The 2025 Basketball Africa League season will feature a brand new venue for the finals and playoffs and will also start at a brand new location.

The BAL 2025 Playoffs and Finals, scheduled for June 14, 2025, will happen at the recent home in Pretoria, South Africa. This will be the first time the BAL playoffs and finals haven’t been held in Kigali, Rwanda. The BAL 2025 season will also debut in a brand new location in Rabat, Morocco on April 5, 2025. During the BAL 2025 season, 12 of the best club teams from 12 African countries will play 48 matches in Rabat, Kigali and Dakar, Senegal, before traveling to Pretoria for play- offs.

“Over the first four seasons of BAL, we have seen tremendous growth in on-court competition, attendance and engagement from fans and partners in Africa and around the world,” BAL president Amadou Gallo Fall said in a press release. “Our groundbreaking fifth season will build on this momentum and continue to showcase the level of talent and passion for basketball in Africa, including through the first BAL games in Morocco and the first BAL Finals in South Africa.”

The 12 teams will be divided again into three conferences of 4 teams each. The group stage of the Kalahari Conference will happen from April 5 to 13, 2025 in Rabat. The group stage of the Sahara Conference will be held in Dakar from April 26 to May 4, 2025. The group stage of the Nile Conference will be held in Kigali from May 17 to 25, 2025. Eight teams from the three conferences will qualify for the play-offs in Pretoria, which will start on June 6 and end with the BAL 2025 finals.

“The Kalahari conference marks another expansion of BAL into a new country on our continent and we are more than satisfied,” FIBA ​​Africa president Anibal Manave said in a press release. “The competition continues to grow each year, providing greater exposure for our sport and helping to raise the level of basketball in Africa, making the league increasingly competitive.”

National champions from Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia routinely qualify for the BAL. The remaining five teams are from FIBA ​​Africa’s Road to the BAL qualifying tournaments.

In the 2024 BAL season, Petro de Luanda of Angola became the first team from Sub-Saharan Africa to win the championship. According to BAL, the 2024 BAL season reached fans in 214 countries and territories in 17 languages, set an attendance record of greater than 120,000 fans in the 4 host countries and generated greater than 1.2 billion views across the NBA and BAL social media channels.

Marc J. Spears is Andscape’s senior NBA author. He used to have the option to dunk on you, but he hasn’t been able to do it for years and his knees still hurt.

This article was originally published on : andscape.com
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NFL star Terrell Owens signs a contract with Michael Strahan’s talent agency

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Terrell Owens, NFL, Football


NFL Hall of Fame receiver and podcast host Terrell Owens has signed with a talent agency to further strengthen his claims within the entertainment game.

According to , Owens was signed by SMAC Entertainment, headed by host and NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan and his business partner Constance Schwartz-Morini.

NFL insider Jordan Schultz has also joined SMAC Entertainment.

“We are excited to add TO and Jordan to the SMAC family. They are both at the top of their game and set the standard in their industry,” Schwartz-Morini said in a written statement. “TO and Jordan have already brought an infectious energy to our team, and we are excited to help them realize their vision for careers in media, business and branding.”

A five-time first-team All-Pro and six-time Pro Bowler, Owens played for the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals. In 2018, he was finally inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

A member of the 2000 NFL All-Decade Team, Owens finished his profession with 1,078 catches for 15,934 yards, 14.8 yards per catch and 153 touchdowns, rating third all-time in receiving yards and touchdowns.

Since retiring from skilled soccer in 2012, Owens has already made several moves. He has appeared in several movies and tv shows, including “,” and in addition had his own reality show, “, on VH1.

He currently co-hosts the podcast with former NFL player and sports analyst Shannon Sharpe.

SMAC Entertainment is home to stars similar to rapper and actor Common, Wiz Khalifa, Strahan, Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders and current NFL players similar to Stefon Diggs and DK Metcalf.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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