Is liking Caitlin Clark but not liking JuJu Watkins being racist? Sports analyst and “Fearless” host Jason Whitlock thinks this is what other sports commentators are implying, and he blasts them for insinuating such an idea.
In one of the recent editions of his program, Whitlock called out Stephen A. Smith in particular with his recent commentary that people should give JuJu Watkins the same attention and admiration that they gave Caitlin Clark back in her college days.
The comment did not sit well with Whitlock, as he pointed out implied racism in the statement, calling it inaccurate and unfair.
“This whole inference [that] ‘y’all better support Juju the way y’all supported Caitlin Clark. If you don’t, you’re racist,’ everybody knows that’s the underlying inference,” he said. “It’s not true. It’s not accurate. It’s not fair.”
Whitlock then made the argument that an athlete’s stardom almost always starts by being a phenomenon in their hometown. With JuJu coming from California, he cited that the challenge for her not being racist, as the state has supported black athletes in the past.
“Now perhaps you’ll make the argument that Los Angeles is one of the most racist cities in the world and they just won’t support JuJu Watkins [because] LA is racist,” he went on. “Did LA support Kobe Bryant? Did they support Magic Johnson? Yes, they did. So the explanation is deeper than racism. I know they haven’t said that yet but they’ve certainly inferred it.”
Rather, he believes it is a case of JuJu Watkins being a big fish in a large ocean that is LA, as opposed to Caitlin Clark who is from a “smaller pond” that is Iowa, and thus she became locally popular easily.
Jason Whitlock Calls Caitlin Clark “Female Steph Curry”
In the same edition of “Fearless,” Jason Whitlock compared JuJu Watkins and Caitlin Clark, but on who their NBA versions might be, adding it to the insight on the difference between the water the two players are “swimming in.”
“Caitlin Clark is [the] female Steph Curry,” Whitlock said. “Juju Watkins potentially could be [the] female Kobe Bryant, [but] the problem is the pond that she’s swimming in. So rather than going to the inference that ‘oh she’s being denied something’ that ‘y’all better treat her like Caitlyn Clark’—she ain’t swimming in the same pond as Caitlin Clark.”
“So how can we treat her like Caitlin Clark? She’s in a different body of water and that makes all the difference in the world.”
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