It’s “all good” between Caitlin Clark and Pat McAfee after the ESPN personality apologized Monday for calling her a “white bitch” during a discussion about the WNBA on his self-titled program.
McAfee opened Tuesday’s show by addressing the matter, a day after he came under fire for the brazen commentary about Clark, 22.
“Obviously that’s a massive f–k-up on my end. I apologize for that. I did reach out to Caitlin Clark through the Fever (public relations), sent an apology and then got a message back that she said it was all good. No blood. We move forward. And she appreciates us reaching out and apologizing. So that obviously makes me feel a little bit better. But to the people that got pissed off yesterday and offended, I understand. I learned a lot,” McAfee said.
McAfee spent time on Monday’s show talking about Clark’s game against the Chicago Sky over the weekend when veteran Chennedy Carter hip-checked the star rookie.
The WNBA upgraded the foul to a Flagrant 1 on Sunday.
“I’m not going to say anything about the athletes on the court. Athletes are going to be athletes, if they think they can get in your head by bodying you or talking s–t, they’re going to do what they’re going to do,” McAfee said.
“But I do have a message for the sports media or the ex-WNBA players, there seems to be this notion, and maybe we’re wrong on it, that this whole evolution of success and popularity in the WNBA is because of this entire rookie class. I think there’s a chance Chennedy Carter of Chicago, whenever she’s going to Caitlin, you see [Sky rookie] Angel Reese get all jacked up about it and celebrating, I think that’s because she thinks Angel Reese deserves more credit than what she’s getting. Caitlin’s getting all this credit and you hear a lot of sports media, ‘This is an entire class, this rookie class is the reason why this is happening it’s the next generation,’ well, that’s fun.”
The segment continued to veer off the rails when McAfee introduced a presentation-like game about the WNBA that highlighted TV ratings and game attendance and featured the mugs of fellow rookies in Reese and Cameron Brink.
That’s when he uttered the unabashed comment about Clark.
“I would like the media people that continue to say, ‘This rookie class, this rookie class, this rookie class.’ Nah, just call it for what it is, there’s one white bitch for the Indiana team who is a superstar, and is it because she stayed in Iowa and put an entire state on her back and took a program from nothing to a multiple-year success story?” McAfee said.
The former NFL punter received backlash over the remark and issued an apology Monday afternoon.
“I shouldn’t have used ‘white bitch’ as a descriptor of Caitlin Clark. No matter the context.. even if we’re talking about race being a reason for some of the stuff happening.. I have way too much respect for her and women to put that into the universe,” McAfee said in a post on X.
“My intentions when saying it were complimentary just like the entire segment but, a lot of folks are saying that it certainly wasn’t at all. That’s 100% on me and for that I apologize… I have sent an apology to Caitlin as well.”
