DiJonai Carrington, Jemele Hill Amplify Post About MAGA Hat Making WNBA Writer Feel 'Unsafe' | Bobby Burack

Frankie de la Cretaz is a self-proclaimed journalist who covers "sports and queerness." In June, de la Cretaz published an op-ed on ESPN's Andscape website accusing OutKick founder Clay Travis of "queerphobia" for his coverage of Caitlin Clark.

"Earlier this month, conservative sports pundit Clay Travis claimed the Fever star was a victim of discrimination against ‘white heterosexual women in a black lesbian league’ after Clark received a flagrant foul 1 from Sky guard Chennedy Carter," de la Cretaz wrote.

"With that statement, Travis said the quiet part out loud. Pitting Clark, a white, heterosexual woman who fits into conventionally approved, Eurocentric standards of womanhood, against the rest of the league, which is predominantly black and perceived as largely queer or gender non-conforming, reinforces long-standing tropes of the queer villain."

De La Cretaz's shtick appears simple: make the lesbian women in the WNBA who target Caitlin Clark the victims. De la Cretaz did so again on Wednesday, regarding Sun guard DiJonai Carrington.

For a recap, Carrington jammed her fingernail into Clark's eye over the weekend. Several angles of the incident indicate Carrington did so on purpose. (Clark, however, downplayed the incident, calling it unintentional. Of course, she did.)

For months, Carrington has posted nasty tweets about Clark and white people on her social media accounts. Carrington has made it abundantly clear that she believes Clark's popularity is a product of anti-black racism in the WNBA.

The WNBA should have suspended Carrington. It didn't. So, Fever fans trolled Carrington during Game 2, with de la Cretaz in attendance.

"I’m at the Sun/Fever game and the vibe is HORRENDOUS. The woman behind me was mocking DiJonai’s eyelashes & only stopped when my partner turned around & told her to stop being racist. There’s a man in a MAGA hat. Then there’s THIS woman in a ‘ban nails’ shirt & cartoonishly fake nails."

Carrington and Jemele Hill amplified the post, which has now garnered over 2.2 million impressions. "See, it’s not just on social media," Hill said in a quote-post, implying the black women in the WNBA. 

Nick Wright says they are going to lead his podcast around the tweet on Thursday. Of course, he will.

De la Cretaz's' post feeds into the media narrative that Clark's fans are racist and sexist. However, the fans did not actually make de la Cretaz "unsafe." De la Cretaz is grifting.

First, de la Cretaz claims a fan wore – gasp – a MAGA hat. No, wait, a "literal MAGA hat."

Are fans not allowed to wear MAGA hats? 

MAGA is Donald Trump's lean campaign slogan. Around 74 million people voted for Trump in 2020 – are they prohibited from attending WNBA games?

It is not like MAGA is a slogal for burning cities for an entire summer and trying to assassinate a presidential candidate twice…

The fan with the "ban nails" and fake nail props was just that, a fan. 

Fan is short for fanatic. She was having fun, trolling the opposition. After all, Carrington's nails were part of the story coming into the night. The fan and her "cartoonishly fake nails" were not a threat.

Finally, the woman mocking Carrington's eyelashes was a heckler. Sure, hecklers are agitating. But they exist at every major sporting event. Ask NFL players.

It's telling to see DiJonai Carrington and Jemele Hill amplifying such a joke of a post. The fans in attendance proved nothing other than a passion for the WNBA.

As much as ghouls like Frankie de la Cretaz want to state otherwise, the black and lesbian women in the WNBA are not victims. They are mostly only in the news for their bigoted comments about Clark and attempts to injure Clark on the court.

Let's say what everyone knows, but few will say: 

The toxicity around Caitlin Clark emanates almost exclusively from bitter, probably depressed women in the WNBA and media struggling to accept that a straight white girl from Iowa has ascended atop a historically black sport.

If anyone should feel "unsafe," it's Caitlin Clark.