Dave Portnoy calls out Ryan Clark and Stephen A. Smith in epic Angel Reese rant
By ERIC BLUM
Barstool boss Dave Portnoy has called out sports broadcasters Ryan Clark and Stephen A. Smith in an epic rant coming to the defense of his beloved Caitlin Clark amid fallout with rival Angel Reese.
The Clark-Reese rivalry has hit a climax since Saturday's weekend WNBA showpiece game between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky, which featured an on-court confrontation between the two league sophomores.
The eventful game sparked an instant WNBA investigation into alleged racist abuse directed at Reese from Fever fans.
The complex fallout is ongoing, with Portnoy, who has been a Clark superfan for 'three, four years' calling out Clark for name-dropping him and Smith for believing the rivalry between two of the WNBA's most-recognizable faces is all about race.
'And the way Ryan Clark just drops my name like hate, that Caitlin Clark fans or Fever fans, or Iowa Hawkeye fans don't have a right or a reason to hate Angel Reese like she's victim out of the clouds just because of the color of their skin is infuriating,' Portnoy said on social media.
'Caitlin fans have every reason to hate Angel Reese. And I say "hate" in the sports sense, like you hate your rival. I hated Peyton Manning, Red Sox fans hate Yankee fans. Fever fans, Caitlin fans, should hate Angel Reese. Angel Reese has been nothing but an instigator, agitator, and jacka** for the last couple years. ... So spare me the race narrative for 99 percent of Caitlin Clark fans.'
Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Clark have been called out by Dave Portnoy in an epic Reese rant
Portnoy was fed up with Clark naming him in this situation and others making it about race
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Dave Portnoy's advice to Caitlin Clark that would 'put the WNBA out of business'
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'If you have one player who is constantly poking at you, constantly prodding, constantly degrading you, constantly doing these things, yes, you're going to f***in' hate her. It has nothing to do with the color of the skin.'
'I'm sick of the Ryan Clark's, I'm sick of the Stephen A's, I'm sick of ESPN making it a race issue. You have a superior basketball player who constantly has someone below taking shots at them, won't shut up and plays the victim. She said she wanted to be the villain. She's like. "I'll be the villain, I'll be the bad guy."'
'It's made her rich, it's made her popular. If she didn't have Caitlin, nobody would know who she is. If Caitlin didn't have Angel, it would be the same popularity for Caitlin. So can you please stop with the victim and the race? There's a reason Caitlin fans have that we don't like Angel Reese, and it's fair, it's sports. Rivalries are fine. But every time they play, the reason we don't like her is racism? No, its because she's been a jacka** for the last three years.'
Clark has been in a racially-fueled back-and-forth with fellow TV star Robert Griffin III, with the pair being former colleagues and Washington Redskins teammates.
Their war of words began when Griffin posted on social media that Reese 'HATES' Clark, noting: 'I know what hatred looks like. Not some basketball rivalry hate either. Hate.'
In response, Clark claimed that Griffin is not in a position to comment on black women because he has twice been married to a white woman, including his current partner Grete, who is Estonian.
The Griffins have since posted a TikTok video in which Grete jokingly tries to attack the camera, alongside the caption 'when someone has something to say to my non-confrontational husband.'
It has also been reported that Clark's ESPN colleagues want the network to take action against him for his insults about Griffin's interracial marriage.
Angel Reese was incensed at Caitlin Clark after a physical foul on Saturday afternoon
Clark dismissed Griffin's criticism of Angel Reese because he's married to a white woman
Saturday's incident was the latest instalment in a long list of clashes between the two players
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Angel Reese launches disgusting racist attack on 'white gyal' Caitlin Clark as WNBA crisis deepens
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Smith has not name-dropped Portnoy when speaking on the situation, but has used his usual bombastic tone.
'I'm not as bothered by this as most people... I'm not bothered by this because I love when folks are stupid enough to show themselves,' Smith said of the alleged racism toward Reese.
'It's about that white player and that black player. ... It started with [Larry] Bird vs. Magic [Johnson]. ... [That rivalry] contributed to elevate the popularity. So Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark: Embrace this. It's okay.'
Reese reposted an inflammatory TikTok trolling her 'white gyal' rival Caitlin Clark on Tuesday night. The re-post no longer appears to be on Reese's TikTok feed.
Reese said after practice on Tuesday that 'there's no place in this league for that.'
'I think the WNBA and our team and our organization have done a great job supporting me,' she told reporters. 'I've had communication from everyone, from so many people across this league. It could happen to me, it can happen to anyone. And I think they've done a good job supporting us in this.'
Clark also made her feelings clear on the alleged abuse, telling reporters: 'There's no place for that in our game, there's no place for that in society.'
Reese and Clark, meanwhile, will play against each other again on June 7 when the Sky host the Fever. The pair met four times in their rookie WNBA season, with regular on-court clashes sparking a rivalry that continues to grow - despite both of them trying to dampen it.
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