The View co-hosts defended a viral flagrant foul against rookie WNBA star Caitlin Clark, arguing fouls like it happen commonly in basketball.
Whoopi Goldberg said people were overreacting, noting Angel Reese had a similar foul, and athletes should be viewed as such regardless of gender.
“Let’s be realistic, OK? This is basketball, OK?” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said. “This happens in basketball all the time. Angel Reese got clotheslined the other day.”
They’re there to win. And just because they’re women, get over yourselves, they’re athletes,” Goldberg said.
Co-host Sunny Hostin noted it was the show’s fifth time discussing the WNBA and basketball is a contact sport, calling Clark’s foul flagrant but something that will make players better.
Known for breaking records at Iowa, Clark’s popularity from her success and large Nike deal has brought attention and money to the WNBA.
“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 said. The foul was “clearly a flagrant foul.”
“It’s going to make them better. It’s going to make Caitlin better. It’s going to make Angel better. It’s going to make the league better,” Hostin said.
While Hostin had previously suggested Clark benefits from “white privilege” and “pretty privilege,” co-hosts advocated focusing on Clark’s accomplishments and not making the issue about race or gender.
“Now, Caitlin Clark is bringing this money, these sponsorships, we hope, into the league and other players will benefit from it. But I do think that she is more relatable to more people because she’s White, because she’s attractive, and unfortunately, there still is that stigma against the LGBTQ+ community. Seventy percent of the WNBA is Black. A third of the players are in the LGBTQ+ community, and we have to do something about that stigma in this country,” Hostin said.
They echoed the Las Vegas coach in saying Clark deserves credit without implying minority women criticize her due to attributes.
“It’s construed as some of our minority Black and Brown women are hating on her because she’s White, and that is not the case. Let’s take Caitlin out of the picture,” Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon said. “It’s not about Caitlin. Give her her flowers. She’s done stuff that no man or woman, Black or White, has ever done in college basketball. Give that woman her flowers.”
