Christine Brennan defends Dijonai Carrington issues

Caitlin Clark's rookie season in the WNBA may be over, but the off-court controversy that has followed her almost every step is not over yet. Longtime sportswriter Christine Brennan appeared on CNN to defend herself after the WNBA Players Association issued a harsh statement in response to her questions to Dijonai Carrington of the Connecticut Sun.

Brennan asked Carrington if she had intentionally tried to hit Clark in the eye, which the Sunstar quickly dismissed as accidental contact.

I asked DiJonai Carrington about the moment at the start of Sunday's Indiana-Connecticut game when she looked Caitlin Clark in the eyes. Here is her answer: pic.twitter.com/DnQVYi0r6J

— Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) September 24, 2024

Brennan's question was immediately taken up by the WNBA players' association. In a fiery statement, the WNBAPA said it was “a blatant attempt to entice a professional athlete to participate in a narrative that is false and designed to incite racist, homophobic and misogynistic hate speech on social media.” “

This type of heated rhetoric, through no fault of his own, followed Clark throughout the season, but seemed to reach its peak in the playoffs. There's no escaping the fact that there's a certain level of racial tension surrounding everything surrounding the Indiana Fever star. Nick Wright was the most vocal after the Sun's series win over Indiana, saying so-called racist fans had joined Clark in tearing down black WNBA stars in the process. And unfortunately, the chance contact between Clark and Carrington was yet another opportunity to stir up the internet's hornet's nest of bad actors.

USA Today quickly released a statement defending Brennan, but it wasn't until an appearance with Jake Tapper on CNN's “The Lead” on Monday that she spoke out about the exchange and the WNBAPA's criticism. She defended her style of questioning by saying she would do it again as a journalist and called on the WNBA to question male athletes at the same level she has covered over the years.

9:30:24 5:55 pm ET CNN Anchor @jaketapper w/

USA Today columnist; commentator for CNN, ABC News, PBS and NPR; bestselling author; speakers,
Christine Brennan @cbrennansports

Focus: The WNBA's shocking union statement on Ms. Brennan for asking a female athlete a question pic.twitter.com/nnZRCl7dAj

— Jeff Storobinsky (@jeffstorobinsky) September 30, 2024

“The best thing I can do as a journalist is to try to give the athlete the opportunity to answer the question and tell us what she thinks happened – which I've done tens of thousands of times.” That was it literally. And as you know, I would ask this question first 100 times out of 100, I would ask it today, the athlete has every opportunity to then answer this question and frame it the way she wants. And obviously she did. That's the opportunity I think every journalist gives an athlete when they're covering a story, to give them a chance to give their side of it,” Brennan said.

Brennan spoke about the internet furore surrounding Clark, calling it a “cesspool” and pointing to the terrible things that have been said about Carrington, Clark and others. But she made a point of recognizing that neither she nor Tapper could fully appreciate what it's like to live as a black woman and live with the abuse that comes their way. But she didn't back down when Tapper asked her for a response to the WNBAPA statement.

“Is the league willing to take on some of this scrutiny? That's a question I would ask and say, “Yes, they are,” because they are wonderful women who have been in the spotlight for a long time. But for some reason that struck a nerve and I would say the other question I would ask, Jake, is that I would ask that question to a man and I have asked difficult questions of Tiger Woods and Michael thousands of times in my career got Phelps and whatever. “Does that mean we can’t ask a female athlete tough questions, or in this case, not even a tough question, just a fair question?” Brennan said.

This shows where both sides are coming from. Christine Brennan wanted to give Dijonai Carrington a platform to respond to the terrible things being said online and clear the air. Perhaps the follow-up question after laughing at Clark wasn't necessary and supported the idea that she was trying to bait the Sun player in some way. But considering how committed she has been to women's sports over the years, it's hard to attribute any ulterior motives to her. The WNBAPA has a responsibility to defend its players and clearly believed that asking this question legitimized some of the online toxicity that the league is now finally beginning to deal with.

As for Tapper, it's no secret which side the CNN anchor was on in the debate as he concluded his interview with Brennan.

“Whoever wrote this statement for the WNBA players union should probably read a little more about Christine Brennan before accusing her of engaging in anything that has to do with homophobia, racism or sexism, because those are terrible harms “Our culture that you have been fighting against for decades,” Tapper concluded.

[Jeff Storobinsky on X]