Clark mania is in full swing, and with it comes a storm no one can quite outrun. As the KIA WNBA MVP votes rolled in, placing Caitlin Clark fifth, her most die-hard supporters erupted in fury. One WNBA analyst braced for impact—because she had been here before. “Just so we’re clear… it wasn’t me. I voted for CC. So don’t blow me up or call me a hater cause IT WASN’T TERRIKA.” But the firestorm had already ignited. Sitting down with Sheryl Swoopes and Khristina Williams, she recounted her latest run-in with Clark’s relentless fanbase—a stark reminder of how quickly narratives shift and how brutal the internet can be.
Terrika Foster-Brasby recounted her past run-in with Clark’s fan base on the podcast In Case You Missed It with Khristina Williams. Sitting across from WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes, she laid out the moment that turned her Twitter mentions into a war zone.
It was during the period conversations around Caitlin Clark and Dijonai Carrington’s eye-poking incident swirled around. Foster-Brasby recalls she had tweeted that “it was disappointing that Caitlin didn’t take the opportunity initially to dispel the notion and the rumors and the conversation about racism in her fan base.” But to her dismay, she would also happen to share a clip of a woman sitting next to her with Pearl Davis on the same day.
It ticked off the CC loyals.
“And the fans were like, ‘you have the nerve to talk about Caitlin Clark? You got the audacity to talk about a 21-year-old Caitlin Clark, and here you are sitting on stage with Pearl Davis’,” Foster Brasby recalled. For those unfamiliar, Pearl Davis is a well-known internet personality with views dissimilar to Terrkia’s and more. It was likely from the time they filmed the GFY Show together. Considering the W analyst holds completely different notions, she hadn’t believed it to be much of a problem. But she learnt she was wrong soon enough.
“In my mind, I’m like, oh, but I mean, we have different views, but I’m pretty sure I could shift the view,” she recalled. “They were like, no, boo. Accountability. Taking accountability. Take it.”
The backlash was swift and unrelenting. The internet demanded she own up to the optics, and eventually, she did.
“I had to then be like, you know what? After I quit the show like four days in… I said, this is a moment where I had to be a bit vulnerable because they were valid in the things that they were saying. Now, they didn’t all say it the right way, you know.”
While Foster-Brasby was quick to acknowledge her mistake, USA Today columnist Nancy Armour had a different kind of critique for Clark’s fan base.
The shadow of stardom: Calls for Caitlin Clark to confront her fanbase’s dark side
Amour, wanted Clark to address her fanbase and ask them to stop their brash words: “Of all the things Caitlin Clark has been asked to do the last two-plus years, this is the most important: She needs to publicly call out the racist and homophobic trash purporting to be her fans and tell them, in no uncertain terms, that she neither approves of nor condones their bigotry. They need to make a choice, right now, and it’s her or their gleeful hate.”
Former Iowa women’s basketball player Caitlin Clark reacts after a foul call on Iowa during the Drake vs. Iowa basketball game at Knapp Center on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in Des Moines.
Alyssa Thomas, one of the WNBA’s most dominant players, also spoke out on the topic, earlier last year stating, “In my 11-year career, I’ve never experienced the racial comments (like) from the Indiana Fever fan base.” The league itself was also forced to issue a statement, saying, “While we welcome the growing fan base, the WNBA will not tolerate racist, derogatory, or threatening comments made about players, teams, and anyone affiliated with the league.”
Despite Clark’s undeniable talent and record-breaking performances, her rise to stardom has come with an unintended consequence. As Swoopes listened to Foster-Brasby’s account, she didn’t have to say much after everything she has already said. The story spoke for itself.
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