{"id":3577,"date":"2025-07-17T19:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T19:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/3577\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T19:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T19:34:11","slug":"who-let-shane-gillis-talk-about-caitlin-clark-at-the-espys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/3577\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Let Shane Gillis Talk About Caitlin Clark at the ESPYs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2025 <\/p>\n

\n Photo: Christopher Polk\/Penske Media via Getty Images\n <\/p>\n

On Wednesday night, ESPN held its annual ESPY Awards ceremony<\/a> in Los Angeles. Instead of choosing a big-personality athlete to host the evening (Ilona Maher, hello?), the ESPYs tapped comedian Shane Gillis, perhaps best known for getting axed from SNL in 2019 after footage surfaced of him making racist, homophobic, and misogynistic jokes. While no one was spared by Gillis\u2019s barbs (Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein included), he cracked an alarming\u00a0number of distasteful jokes about the WNBA.<\/p>\n

During his opening monologue, Gillis nodded to the Indiana Fever\u2019s Caitlin Clark<\/a>, who couldn\u2019t make the ceremony owing to her travel schedule with the team. After noting he and Clark had both \u201cnailed a bunch of threes,\u201d he said, \u201cWhen Caitlin Clark retires from the WNBA, she\u2019s going to work at a Waffle House so she can continue doing what she loves most: fistfighting Black women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gillis was presumably attempting to reference Clark\u2019s perceived rivalry with Angel Reese<\/a> \u2014 a dynamic both women<\/a> have made repeated efforts to shoot down<\/a>. For her part, Clark has also made a point<\/a> of crediting Black women in the league as the WNBA faces an uptick<\/a> in vitriol<\/a> toward its Black players<\/a>. At a 2024 press conference<\/a>, she said, \u201cNobody in our league should be facing any sort of racism \u2014 hurtful, disrespectful, hateful comments and threats.\u201d I guess Gillis feels differently.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Gillis managed to bungle the pronunciation<\/a> of Diana Taurasi\u2019s name, calling the six-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time WNBA champion \u201cDeanna.\u201d He also pretended to point out \u201cfour-time WNBA All-Star Brittany Hicks\u201d in the audience, before adding, \u201cI\u2019m just joking around. That\u2019s my friend\u2019s wife. I knew none of you knew WNBA players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shane Gillis tricked the ESPYS crowd into believing his friend\u2019s wife was a WNBA star \ud83d\ude2d <\/p>\n

\u201c4x WNBA All-Star Brittany Hicks is here. Give it up for Brittany, everybody. I’m just joking around; that’s my friend’s wife, I knew none of you knew WNBA players.\u201d pic.twitter.com\/uC5Ta7v7u1<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 FearBuck (@FearedBuck) July 17, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Throughout the evening, Gillis mentioned repeatedly that he didn\u2019t write all the jokes, but he sure seemed to enjoy delivering them. Toward the end of his monologue, he made it clear he was aware of how his brand of humor was coming off. \u201cI see a lot of you don\u2019t like me, and that\u2019s okay,\u201d he said, smiling. \u201cThat went about exactly how we all thought it was going to go. I don\u2019t know why this happened.\u201d At least we can all agree on that.<\/p>\n

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