Skip Bayless Felt Supporting Caitlin Clark Incited Racial Division

Skip Bayless opened up about his reservations over publicly supporting women’s basketball sensation Caitlin Clark in an episode of his podcast on Thursday.

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“I started to think, deep down in my psyche, ‘Wait a second, she’s really good.’ But I’ll be the first to admit, I felt guilty saying so on TV or on social media. I did not want to look like this red state white guy cheering for this red state white girl. Our country feels split enough racially already. I didn’t want to pour gasoline on that fire,” Bayless said on the show.

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“Caitlin, I don’t know if she has that dog in her,” Bayless previously said. “I know she’s got talent, I know she’s got distant shooting talent and I know she definitely has a gift for passing the basketball. But I don’t know if she has that dog in her because I start to wonder — I know it’s extremely early, but I’m just saying, I start to wonder when I see what I saw (Sunday).”

Bayless went so far as to say that one of the reasons he took stances like these against Clark was because he believed the Iowa native was a “right-wing symbol” due to the fact that she is a White player excelling at the game of basketball.

“Maybe I was wrong about this, but Caitlin Clark started to feel like some sort of new right-wing symbol. ‘White woman dominating game dominated by Black men and women for years and years.’ I could almost hear some people thinking, ‘White power baby!’ And please, I’m not saying Caitlin Clark is far-right in her politics or beliefs. I have no idea what her politics or religion are because she has carefully, and I say smartly, avoided taking any rookie year stance because she is already such a lightning rod.

“I know what a powerful point of pride basketball has been to the Black community in this country. Black men and women obviously have been routinely and consistently better at basketball.”

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