The View co-hosts, Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin, leapt to Chennedy Clark’s defense after she brutally body checked top draft pick, Caitlin Clark, over the weekend.
The Chicago Sky player faced widespread backlash for seemingly yelling ‘you b***h’ as she shoved the Indiana Fever star to the ground, resulting in a flagrant foul.
During a segment on Monday’s episode of the talk show, the Sister Act star implored viewers to ‘get over [themselves]’ and accept that WNBA players are ‘athletes.’
‘Let’s be realistic, OK? This is basketball, OK? This happens in basketball all the time. Angel Reese got clotheslined the other day,’ Goldberg said, referencing Carter’s teammate who came under fire for cheering when Clark was pushed to the floor.
‘This is, “Get out the way or I’ma move you.” That’s what the game is … A lot of people, however, are reading this as confrontation. But this is not confrontation,’ she insisted.
Whoopi Goldberg defended Chicago Sky player Chennedy Carter on Monday’s episode
‘Just because they’re women … get over yourselves, they’re athletes,’ Goldberg said
They’re not playing on the court. They’re there to win. And just because they’re women … get over yourselves, they’re athletes.’
Hostin, who is a member of the WNBPA board of advocates, reminded viewers that basketball is a ‘contact sport,’ however she conceded that Carter’s bodyslam was ‘clearly a flagrant foul.’
‘This is maybe the fifth time on this show we’re talking about the WNBA guys, this is unbelievable,’ she chimed in.
‘It’s not dainty play. When you’re sitting there [and] you’re watching, sometimes when that happens you think, “Ooh, wow. I couldn’t take it.”‘
Hostin, however, claimed the rough nature of play was ‘going to make them better.’
Clark was inexplicably bodychecked to the ground by Carter during Saturday’s game
The Iowa alum has dominated news headlines since she was slammed to the ground
‘It’s gonna make Caitlin better. It’s gonna make Angel better. It’s gonna make the league better,’ she said.
Goldberg then chimed in, ‘This is what sports are. They play hard and they play brilliantly. Because none of us can beat them. None of us can do what they can do so let’s give them their due. They’re doing their thing.’
Clark, the WNBA’s No. 1 overall pick, has dominated headlines over the past few days after she was brutally fouled by Carter during the Fever’s 71-70 win over the Sky.
She has constantly been the subject of rough treatment from opponents during her rookie season amid claims of jealousy from other players at her explosive impact on women’s basketball.
Pat McAfee bizarrely called her a ‘white b****’ while live on a national ESPN broadcast
The TV host posted a groveling apology to Clark, saying he has ‘way too much respect for her’
Over on ESPN, Pat McAfee defended the Iowa alum, however he was forced to issue a groveling apology after he bizarrely called her a ‘white b****’ live on national TV.
‘I shouldn’t have used “white b****” 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,’ he wrote on X.
During the segment, he compared her to fellow rookies Angel Reese and Cameron Brink in order to emphasize that Clark is in a league of her own.
‘I would like the media people that continue to say “this rookie class, this rookie class, this rookie class” – no, just call it for what it is,’ he said on the Pat McAfee show.
‘There’s one white b**** for the Indiana team who is a superstar and is it because she stayed at Iowa, put an entire state on her back, took a program from nothing to a multiple-year success story?’
