{"id":752940,"date":"2026-07-09T17:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T17:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/752940\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T17:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T17:15:11","slug":"republicans-ask-wnba-to-protect-caitlin-clark-from-possible-racially-motivated-attacks-wnba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/752940\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans ask WNBA to protect Caitlin Clark from possible \u2018racially motivated\u2019 attacks | WNBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eleven Republican politicians have written to the WNBA asking the league to protect Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark<\/a> from \u201cmultiple attacks\u201d on court.<\/p>\n

Clark has been on the receiving end of hard fouls since she entered the league in 2024 after a stellar college career with Iowa. Recently, the Phoenix Mercury<\/a> forward Alyssa Thomas hit Clark in the throat during a game. Thomas was not called for a foul at the time but the WNBA later suspended her for one game. Thomas and her family received racist abuse and death threats <\/a>after the incident.<\/p>\n

In the letter, the Republican politicians, led by congressman August Pfluger, praise Clark as \u201cthe face of your league\u201d and someone who is bringing renewed interest to the WNBA<\/a>, which has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years. The lawmakers say they are worried by reports that \u201cattacks against Clark may be racially motivated.\u201d Clark is white and most players in the WNBA are Black.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Commissioner, you have an obligation to ensure that every player competes in a safe and professional environment, both on and off the court, free from violence, discrimination, or retaliation,\u201d the letter said. \u201cIf discrimination or retaliation is occurring and creating a hostile work environment, we support any appropriate investigation by the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. If true, such conduct could constitute violations of federal civil rights laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter asks the league to clarify how it addresses \u201cphysical hostility and violence on the court,\u201d how the league disciplines \u201coverly aggressive acts on the court,\u201d and how the WNBA is dealing with online harassment of its players.<\/p>\n

The Fever said on Wednesday that they were unaware of the letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur organization nor Caitlin has had any interaction with anyone in this congressional group and we were unaware of their letter,\u201d the statement read. \u201cWe have been clear in our public comments and in our ongoing dialogue with the League about the priority of player safety. Our players and our fans know where we stand on those issues, and we will continue to stick up for our team and a standard of excellence across the league.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few in the league believe the attacks on Clark are racially motivated, and star players in the WNBA and NBA are often the subject of physical play, particularly at the start of their careers. Black players in the league are routinely racially abused online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Clark has long been a lightning rod<\/a> for people to express their views on race and gender in the US.<\/p>\n

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Clark herself has spoken about her frustration at the storylines and abuse some of the coverage of her career generates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI turn the TV on Sunday and that game \u200bwas on Wednesday and \u200cthat\u2019s all people \u200bare still \u200btalking about. And I feel like that\u2019s just a real disservice to our league,\u201d said Clark. \u201cThen for the narrative to be taken other places, it\u2019s just really not acceptable. I think it\u2019s just hard to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark has also condemned the racist abuse of WNBA players. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely upsetting. Nobody in our league should be facing any sort of racism \u2013 hurtful, disrespectful, hateful comments and threats. Those aren\u2019t fans, those are trolls, and it\u2019s a real disservice to the people in our league, the organization, the WNBA,\u201d Clark said in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eleven Republican politicians have written to the WNBA asking the league to protect Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":752941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-752940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/752941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}