Serena Williams aimed to ace her 2024 ESPY Awards monologue.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion, who will be hosting this year’s awards ceremony in Los Angeles, arrived at the show with plenty of comedy material, including one joke poking fun at Fever phenom Caitlin Clark.
Appearing on stage surrounded by people dressed in tennis gear, Williams began by praising the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft before cracking a joke.
“Caitlin Clark has had a great year, she’s been nominated for three awards,” Williams began joking to thunderous applause from the packed Dolby Theatre. “You’re Larry Bird in that you’re a great athlete, you have the Indiana ties and white people are crazy about you.”
Clark, who was performing at The Fever in Indianapolis on Friday, did not appear to attend the annual awards ceremony.
Williams began the show by covering a number of topics, including Kendrick Lamar’s feud with fellow rapper Drake, Shohei Ohtani having millions of dollars stolen from him by his former interpreter, and women’s sports being second-tier behind other major sports leagues and cornhole on ESPN’s broadcasts.
But the joke about Clark seemed to resonate the most on social media, eliciting a wide range of reactions.
“shame on you, Serena Williams “What a terrible comment. Try harder,” one X user wrote.
“It was a joke, nothing too serious,” wrote another user, responding to Williams’ joke video.
“Oh my goodness. Even if she was just messing around, why did she go there? Unbelievable,” another user wrote.
“She’s not wrong lol,” another added.
During her rookie year with the Fever, Clark was nominated for three awards during the program: Best Female Athlete, Best Record-Breaking Performance and Best Female Collegiate Athlete.
