{"id":634595,"date":"2026-07-13T11:49:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T11:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=634595"},"modified":"2026-07-13T11:49:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T11:49:42","slug":"same-league-same-skin-color-completely-different-media-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=634595","title":{"rendered":"Same league, same skin color, completely different media treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ticking off boxes for the spirit of the age appeared to show why one white WNBA player is celebrated at the same time Caitlin Clark is taking fists to the throat.<\/p>\n

Selling out jerseys and stadiums since finishing up her college career and joining the Indiana Fever, Clark\u2019s freshman season found many viewing her as the new face of a less-than-welcoming league. Treatment by peers and the media has painted a stark contrast to the Dallas Wings\u2019 Paige Bueckers, who has kept herself clear of \u201cthe same degree of social debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such was the assertion of Outkick\u2019s Jackson Thompson as he presented the dichotomy between the white players, with Clark \u201coften at the center of mainstream cultural discussions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Days after former NFL wide receiver Harry Douglas sparked controversy on ESPN Radio\u2019s \u201cFreddie and Harry\u201d by saying, \u201cEverything we expected Caitlin Clark to be, Paige Bueckers has been in the WNBA,\u201d the sports writer presented Bueckers\u2019 background with divorced parents, \u201craised primarily by her father while navigating a split-household dynamic after her mother eventually remarried and moved to Montana. Bueckers grew up in a blended family with three half-siblings, including a younger brother Drew who is biracial and partially Black,\u201d juxtaposed against Clark\u2019s \u201ctraditional American nuclear family.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wings player also participated in Black Lives Matter protests and, when she accepted the award for Best Female College Athlete the following year at the 2021 ESPY Awards, said, \u201cWith the light that I have now as a white woman who leads a black-led sport and celebrated here, I want to show a light on black women. They don\u2019t get the media coverage that they deserve. They\u2019ve given so much to this sport \u2026 Everyone who voted, thank you. But I think we should use this power together to also celebrate black women.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI think we should use this power together to also celebrate Black women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paige Bueckers with an incredible speech and message after winning the ESPY award for Best College Athlete, Women\u2019s Sports.<\/p>\n

\"\ud83d\udcfd\": @UConnWBB<\/a> | #ESPYS<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/iXpT1xxUYh<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) July 11, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While injury took Bueckers out of the spotlight for a time, Clark made national headlines for the University of Iowa, in particular following a 2023 NCAA championship matchup against LSU\u2019s Angel Reese.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery arena she visited sold out. Fans lined up for hours just to watch her warm up,\u201d wrote Thompson. \u201cBut the intense media scrutiny also meant the culture war narratives followed her every move.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rivalry with Reese carried over into the WNBA, where the Chicago Sky power forward was deemed \u201cJussie Smollett with a worse shooting percentage,\u201d by OutKick founder Clay Travis after a game where Clark received a flagrant foul and Reese received a technical foul while claiming she was submitted to racist heckling<\/a> from the crowd, only for an investigation to find no evidence in support of the claim.<\/p>\n

\u201cClark has become an icon for conservatives as the embattled superstar of the WNBA, facing controversially physical treatment and questionable rankings,\u201d he went on in the wake of WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert avoiding an interview with Dan Patrick to face \u201ctough questions\u201d about the treatment of the Fever star who had recently been punched in the throat while on the ground by Phoenix Mercury player Alyssa Thomas.<\/p>\n

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Weak WNBA commissioner reportedly dodges Caitlin Clark controversy https:\/\/t.co\/JS03X59gT3<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 BPR (@BIZPACReview) July 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMeanwhile, Bueckers revealed herself to be part of the LGBTQ community in 2025,\u201d wrote Thompson after highlighting Clark\u2019s own relationship with Butler Bulldogs Assistant Coach Connor McCaffrey as the \u201carchetypal basketball power couple,\u201d further enshrining the Wings player as a darling in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cClark continues to keep her head down, rarely engaging with the noise, treating the basketball court as her only sanctuary,\u201d he concluded in part. \u201cBueckers, meanwhile, is deeply entrenched in the league\u2019s cultural fabric.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ticking off boxes for the spirit of the age appeared to show why one white WNBA player is celebrated at the same time Caitlin Clark is taking fists to the throat. Selling out jerseys and stadiums since finishing up her college career and joining the Indiana Fever, Clark\u2019s freshman season found many viewing her as… Continue reading Same league, same skin color, completely different media treatment<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":634596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-634595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=634595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/634596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=634595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=634595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=634595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}