Former U.S. Women's National Team (USWNT) soccer star Megan Rapinoe makes long-standing accusations USA Today Racism writer Christine Brennan asks Connecticut Sun forward DeJonai Carrington if poking Caitlin Clark in the eye was intentional.
During Game 1 of the Fever series against the University of Connecticut on September 22nd, Carrington poked Clark in the eye, leaving him with a black eye.
As the video shows, Carrington's hand stretches his fingers skyward from his palm, then suddenly points downwards and his nails pierce directly into Clark's eye sockets.
Before Game 2, Brennan asked Carrington after the game if the eye poke was intentional. Mr Carrington denied even realizing he had poked her in the eye, much less doing it on purpose.
But Rapinoe balked at even asking Carrington about it, despite footage showing what appeared to be an intentional poke in the eye from Carrington. Instead, she accused Brennan of racism and of trying to protect Clark because she is white.
“When I first heard that, my gut reaction was, 'Honestly, that's not good, it doesn't make me feel good, I feel like it's racist,'” Rapinoe said on the podcast. Ta. Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird's Touch More. “I feel like that puts Dijonai in an impossible situation.”
Rapinoe added, “I think it's very disingenuous for Christine Brennan and other members of the media to say, 'I'm just asking a question,' but what's actually happening is that white players “The natural instinct is to protect and narrate, and the other is to follow and narrate.” Black players, that's what really matters to me. ”
Rapinoe and Byrd can't even fathom that Carrington could have purposely poked Clark in the eye.
“The premise of the question relies on the belief that Mr. Dijonay was the target, the belief that Mr. Dijonay specifically slapped or swiped Ms. Caitlyn in the eyeball,” Rapinoe said. “First of all, the area of her eyeball is very small. Do you know how difficult it is to poke someone's eye?”
Bird interjected. “That was my first thought. Do you know how difficult it is to aim and poke someone in the eye?”
Apparently, in the minds of Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe, it's impossible for the world's best athletes to figure out how to intentionally poke themselves in the eye once in the history of the sport. It seems that there was no such thing.
Not only that, but the pair downplayed the idea that Clark was systematically abused throughout the season as “disingenuous.”
Carrington's eye poke did not provoke a foul, unlike many unsportsmanlike attacks on Clark this year. But this prompted a harsh rebuke from the WNBA Players Association — not of Carrington, of course, but of Brennan.
“To non-professional media people like Christine Brennan: You are not fooling anyone. That so-called interview in the name of journalism has been labeled as racist, homophobic, and offensive on social media. It was a blatant attempt to co-opt a professional athlete into a false narrative designed to fuel a misogynistic rant. We cannot hide behind tenure.”
Brennan isn't taking the criticism with a grain of salt. On the contrary, she fired back and defended Carrington's questions in an interview with CNN.
“I would ask that question 100 times out of 100,” Brennan said. “I'm going to ask you today. An athlete has every opportunity to take that question and approach it the way she wants. And clearly, she did. So this is something that, when journalists cover a story, I think it's an opportunity for athletes to get their side of the story.''
