Caitlin Clark urged to speak up against people 'using her' to push narratives

Caitlin Clark's arrival in the WNBA became about much more than her talent and sharpshooting prowess.

The media and fans tried to hype up a rivalry with Angel Reese, and it didn't take long for some people to make it about race. Three years later, Clark and Reese clearly aren't on the same tier, but that narrative still didn't go away.

Some fans have used Clark as a means to an end. And while she's tried to stay away from it and has been rather silent about her political views, some are starting to see her silence as complicit.

That's why former ESPN anchor Elle Duncan urged her to speak up for a change and let the fans know where she truly stands. In an appearance on "The Sports Gossip Show," she explained why staying neutral won't cut it anymore. 

Elle Duncan urges Caitlin Clark to speak up 

“Love for it to be very clear to the people who think they are her fans but are using her, if she would say, stop that [expletive], I don’t want it, I’m tired of it,” Duncan said. “As opposed to what we’ve seen, which is the media makes up these narratives, the media makes up this discourse. That’s not true. The media highlights the stories and they show it, but at the same time, like, the media did not make up that members of Congress are trying to get literal government intervention into whether you get fouled too hard. Like, yeah, right, stuff has stop.”

No one can accuse Clark of being openly racist or saying anything even slightly offensive about any collective or minority.

If anything, her critics can call her out for constantly complaining to the referees and talking back. 

However, Duncan believes she's past the point where the discourse can revolve solely around basketball, and while it's not her fault, she's the only one who can do something about it.

“And I would love for Caitlin’s team to go back to the drawing board and say, again, as much as we would love to live in a world where you get to just play basketball and be a great person and a great leader, and she’s all of those things. As much as we would love for you to be able to just focus on that, just like the players against her would love to be able to not wonder if they hard foul her whether they’re going to be called names or have death threats against them. We would love that to be your reality. It’s unfortunately not your reality right now,” she added.

We're living in polarizing times, and public figures must tread carefully. That said, not speaking up is essentially enabling other actors to speak for her.