ESPN Posts Grossly Irresponsible Article About Reporter Saying Caitlin Clark Fans Made Her Feel 'Unsafe'

ESPN promoted an article from Andscape, its owned and operated pro-black vertical, on its homepage Friday that featured the following headline: "The Indiana Fever vs. Connecticut Sun WNBA game made me feel unsafe."

You can read the article in full here.

The author of the article is a woman named Frankie de la Cretaz, who, in July, accused OutKick founder Clay Travis of "queerphobia" for his coverage of Caitlin Clark. She also posted that article on the ESPN website.

While ESPN is no stranger to commentary that would seemingly fail to meet any standards of a legitimate news organization, the article in question is a new low.

The author argues that she felt "unsafe" at the game because of the Caitlin Clark fans in attendance. What exactly did these fans do to make the reporter feel threatened? 

According to de la Cretaz, one wore a MAGA hat and another wore fake nails.

"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," she said.

No, wait, a "literal MAGA hat."

The fake nails were in response to the Sun guard DiJonai Carrington jamming her nail into Clark's eye in Game 1 of the series, which several video angles suggest was intentional. Given Carrington's previous comments about Clark, there is reason to believe the poke was intentional.

Either way, the fake nail costume was a prop. The fans were being fans. They were trolling, as fans do at nearly every sporting event. Go to an Eagles game and report back to us.

However, according to someone ESPN pays to write, trolling a black woman is a bridge too far.

That and the MAGA hat, of course.

We now quote, from the article, a paragraph that the ESPN editorial process somehow found up to standard:

"Every time the Fever scored, the crowd would erupt, but it didn’t feel like fans were rooting for their team. It felt like a threat. There was an ominous feeling in the building."

Uh, what?

For perspective, ESPN is the leading sports brand in America. The company published and amplified the article on its homepage. In the article, one of its reporters accused fans of threatening her safety and thus suggested that arena security did nothing about it.

Those are pretty hefty accusations.

Rarely do you see a major news outlet frame ordinary people – in this case, fans – as racist and threatening. If I'm one of those fans, I am furious. I'd want to clear my name. 

Again, all the fans did was wear a hat supporting a presidential candidate and fake nails as a joke.

If ESPN actually thought its reporter was "unsafe" at the game, the logical response would be to not send reporters back to Fever games next season. 

Is that the plan? OutKick asked ESPN that question. We also asked whether the company stands by the article and if defaming the fans in attendance met company standards.

ESPN did not respond to our request for comment. We will update this article if the network does.

Ultimately, the article reads like the culmination of months of irresponsible, overly emotional coverage of Caitlin Clark. Since May, ESPN has allowed its commentators and analysts to say just about anything about Clark, no matter the facts.

ESPN talents have smeared Clark. They've accused fans of rooting for her only out of a disdain for black lesbians.

The talents feel empowered – as if there are no consequences for what they say, so long as it props up the baseless narrative that Clark's popularity is the result of anti-black racism.

As a result, an article categorizing cheers for Clark as a "threat" emerged on the homepage of ESPN.com