Achi news desk-
A male columnist has apologized for a shocking moment during former University of Iowa superstar and all-time leading scorer in University of Iowa basketball Kaitlin Clark’s first press conference as an Indiana Fever player.
Wednesday’s exchange went viral on social media, and critics said it highlighted the difficulties many female athletes have in gaining respect and equal treatment from sports journalists, who are often male.
The discussion began with Greg Doyle, a columnist for the Indianapolis Star, making a heart with his hands to Clark, a gesture Clark used often during her college basketball career.
Clark responded, “Do you like it?” Doyle replied: “I love that you’re here,” and Clarke explained: “Yeah, I do that in my family after every game.” Then Doyle added, “Start doing it to me and we’ll be fine.”
Doyle apologized later that day.
“Today, in my uniquely enthusiastic way, while welcoming @CaitlinClark22 to Indy, I created my hand for her autograph [heart hands emoji],” he wrote in a post on X shortly after the event. “My reaction afterward was clumsy and clumsy. I sincerely apologize.”
In a separate post on X, he added: “Caitlin Clark, I’m so sorry. Today I was part of the problem,” the title of his apology column published on Wednesday.
Although Doyle issued his apologies to the social media platform, and in his own column, for the sexist remarks he made to the basketball phenom, the debate he sparked about misogyny in sports was far from over.
Doyle’s back-and-forth with Clark was almost universally followed on the Internet. Media personalities from Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic and NBC to Dave Portnoy (whose Barstool Sports has been accused of perpetuating a sexist culture) slammed Doyle after the clip spread across the Internet.
Meanwhile, the super indie star went so far as to use the stages of grief to illustrate how he reached his moment of clarity.
“After going through denial, then anger – I’m on the wrong side of this? Me??? – Now I realize what I said and how I said it was wrong, wrong, wrong. I mean it just wasn’t right,” he wrote in his column . “Caitlin Clark, I’m so sorry.”
But X users accused him of using the event as a way to generate content and missing the point of the offensive behavior.
The controversy also comes as conversations about how WNBA players are compensated heat up and as the power of women in entertainment and sports reaches unprecedented heights.
