Source: Icon Sportswire / Getty
should stand corrected. On her new podcast,
Unapologetically Angel, she says that the fans have hurled death threats and more at her.
“I think it’s really just the fans, her fans, the Iowa fans, now the Indiana fans, that are like, they ride for her,” Reese said. “And I respect that, respectfully, but sometimes it’s very disrespectful. I think there’s a lot of racism when it comes to it, and I don’t believe she stands on any of that. … But when it comes to death threats, like I’m talking about people come down to my address, follow me home, it’s come down to that.”
Over the summer, Reese’s mother, Angel,
shared some of the texts Reese received from so-called fans with her friend, former WNBA player Val Whitman.
Whitman, presumably with Reese’s permission, posted a few examples online in July.
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“Black b-tch you disgust me with your silly jealous antics let your daughter shine and [stop] teaching her to be jealous to get attention! Stop being a black ratchet gutter b-tch s black women look bad and stop talking about cc she got that swag she changing the game be glad your daughter got a chance to even play in the W!! Cuz if it wasn’t for cc nobody would know your low gpa having daughter,” the message said.
Reese and Clark became the national conversation as players at LSU and Iowa, respectively. Their rivalry heated up when they met in the 2023 NCAA championship, which was the most-watched women’s basketball championship in history, with 9.9 million viewers. LSU won the game 102-85 setting a record for the most points by a women’s team, and Reese was named the game’s Most Outstanding Player.
Many believe that the mostly black LSU team vs. the mostly white Iowa team spurred much of the interest. During the championship game, Reese tapped her finger in Clark’s direction, simulating putting a championship ring on it.
“I think just being able to be in that moment of it happening, you never realized how something can really change your life,” she said on the podcast. “And knowing my five fingers and my other finger pointing at my hand could literally have changed my life for, like, forever is crazy.”
That gesture was viewed by some fans and pundits as poor sportsmanship, leading to a backlash for Reese, the Maryland native who won the chip for LSU as its ‘Bayou Barbie.’ She scored millions of followers and NIL dollars along the way.
Clark’s profile grew in 2024, her last college season as she became the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer and the #1 pick for the Indiana Fever in the WNBA draft. Reese went #7 to the Chicago Sky. Their arrival in the WNBA only heightened the rivalry…and the rhetoric.
But Angel says there’s no ill will between the two, who had record-setting years as WNBA rookies. With Reese
now out with a wrist injury, missing the last two weeks of the regular season, Clark is a lock for Rookie of The Year, leading the Fever into a playoff berth.
“I don’t believe in her heart that she has hatred towards me, and I’m sure she believes that I don’t have hatred towards her,” she said.
See how social media is reacting to the remarks below.
