Riley Gaines, Race-Baiter Jemele Hill Trade Barbs Over Heated Caitlin Clark Race Discussion

Race-baiter Jemele Hill absolutely played the hits on Thursday night.

Hill, a proponent of critical race theory, wanted to challenge OutKick's Riley Gaines on a flammable topic regarding Caitlin Clark on X.

As is typical in Hill’s second act — following her failed stint as a sports commentator — she launched into a wildly off-the-rails rant about white privilege during her heated exchange with Gaines.

Riley Gaines got the conversation started on X with a take on the recent Caitlin Clark news. 

Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Jemele Hill. (Photo by Robin L Marshall/Getty Images)

After Clark was voted Time's "Athlete of the Year," conversations about white versus black WNBA players sparked once again, and this time Caitlin Clark opined with a surprisingly progressive take. 

READ: Charles Barkley Destroys Jemele Hill To Her Face With Simple Statement On 'Inside The NBA'

Gaines gave her lucid take on Clark's comments about white privilege:

"No one was asking for Caitlin Clark to position herself as a right-wing hero. All she needed to do was remain neutral. She’s a phenom who inspires countless young girls to play & achieve, so I still have great admiration for her, but she missed the mark on this one."

Clark, the undisputed face of the WNBA, was doing a solid job of dodging off-the-court disputes about her race, sexuality, and all things that matter only to the WNBA during the season. She plays like a generational talent in both scoring and playmaking, so her value to fans comes from her skill, not the color of her skin. 

All teams benefited from Caitlin Clark's popularity. But her white skin stirred discourse in the league.

Clark opted to chime in on the conversation, veering into the divisive terrain of "white privilege." 

Riley Gaines, Outkick.

In 2024, Clark's WNBA success worked as a tide to raise all boats, boosting the league's revenue and selling out stadiums in a historic year for the league. 

And just when the spotlight should have been on her game-changing skills, Caitlin shifted gears, offering a distraction that not only sidetracked the moment but sparked a far more controversial debate than anyone expected. 

Gaines, like a section of Clark's fans, found the comments disappointing, coming from the typically centered Indiana Fever superstar.

READ: Caitlin Clark Says She Benefits From ‘White Privilege’ In WNBA

Once Jemele Hill came across Gaines' comments on Clark, the disgraced journalist took shots at Gaines as she supported promoting black athletes as undermined figures and bringing up Lia Thomas.

It was typical unhinged Jemele Hill. 

Jemele Hill. (Photo by Momodu Mansaray/Getty Images for Cashmere Agency)

Hill responded to Gaines: 

"You holler all the time about supporting and 'protecting' women, and yet the moment that Caitlin Clark expresses appreciation and respect for the Black women in the WNBA (many of whom she grew up watching and idolizing), suddenly you’re acting like a disappointed parent. 

"Chile [sic], you could not tell on yourself any louder."

" … Clark isn't the problem. She's the solution. Being a long-standing professional race baiter must be SO exhausting," Gaines responded in part.

The Left has viewed Riley Gaines' platform on Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports as problematic. Conservatives have rallied around Gaines' platform as a unifier. 

Hill continued, "Girl, you need to thank Lia Thomas every day of your life for helping you get famous, otherwise you would have been just a decent college swimmer that no one knew. You wrote the book on grifting — not me."

Riley Gaines Gets The Upper Hand In Heated X Exchange With Jemele Hill

As OutKick's Mark Harris wrote on Thursday, the race conversation has grown weary on sports fans, so to hear the typically apolitical Clark preach about white "privilege" brought back more fatigue for fans.

Fans are begging for the discussion to go back to focusing on Clark's ability. 

Hill won't have it, and took more deliberate shots at Gaines. 

ATLANTA - Penn Quakers swimmer Lia Thomas on the pool deck at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships at Georgia Tech on March 19, 2022. Photo: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

"You’re intentionally missing the point," Jemele told Gaines. 

"… CC is self-aware enough to understand that Black women who have accomplished things similar to what she has haven’t received the same marketing and endorsement opportunities. 

"Prior to this year, every WNBA player who had their own shoe was white. … "

Hill tried to convince Riley that race is a daily burden in this nation.

"What’s funny is that you can see the inequities that women face if they’re white, and for some reason, you want to play dumb when it’s Black women."

Hill's logic has never been the most convincing, which has factored into a recent skip from employer to employer as she struggles to convince the masses of her mission to promote identity politics.

Gaines promotes a platform to keep trans athletes out of women's sports, having seen the first-hand ramifications of it. She fuels the conversation that sports are dictated by ability only, rather than identity.

Jemele Hill thinks Gaines is disconnected from reality, which says enough about her grasp of reality. 

Advantage, Gaines.

When it comes to Caitlin Clark, Hill has previously painted the Fever rookie as a white devil for the WNBA.

Now that Clark has aligned herself with the white privilege narrative, Hill is becoming more of a CC fan. By the way, is Jemele still planning on leaving X?

Follow along on X: @alejandroaveela

Send us your thoughts: alejandro.avila@outkick.com