Angel Reese alleges harassment by Caitlin Clark fans: ‘People have come down to my address’
Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark are simultaneously posting two of the greatest rookie seasons in WNBA history, which is only the latest chapter in their shared history.
According to Reese, that history has led to some awful behavior directed toward her by Clark’s fans.
In the first episode of her new “Unapologetically Angel” podcast, Reese was asked by co-host Maya Reese (no relation) about Clark, whom she clashed with twice during their college careers. Reese went out of her way to praise Clark before alleging that her fans have harassed her in ways including death threats, following her home and fabricating naked pictures of her through AI, with some sent to her family.
Reese’s comments:
“Caitlin is an amazing player and I’ve always thought she was an amazing player. We’ve been playing each other since high school. So I think it’s really just the fans — her fans, the Iowa fans, now the Indiana fans — that are, like, they ride for her 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 have come down to my address, following me home, it’s come down to that. Multiple occasions, people have made AI pictures of me naked, literally. They have sent it to my family members. My family members are, like, uncles are sending it to me, like, “Oh, are you naked on Instagram?”
“It sucks to see that and it’s really hard that I have to go through that, and now seeing other players even having to go through that.”
Reese went on to reiterate her respect for Clark, and even promised they will become teammates one day:
At the end of the day, it’s a game that we do both love, but there is no hate. We’re going to play on the same team one day, I’m sure. We’re definitely going to play on the same team one day.”
Clark has rapidly become the biggest name in women’s basketball, which has been great for the league’s TV ratings and less so for the volume of the discourse around her. Months ago, she denounced “fans” using her name to push bigoted agendas involving her opponents.
Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark have become two of the biggest names in the WNBA as rookies. (Photo by Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Reese and the Chicago Sky in particular have claimed to see the ugly side of the attention paid to Clark, most notably after Chennedy Carter hit Clark with a needless shoulder check and refused questions about it. It was one of many hard fouls Clark has received this season.
While many denounced Carter’s actions during and after that game, the team alleged one person took it further by harassing her at a team hotel. A subsequent video showed that person only attempting to ask Carter questions, but one Sky player said it was edited to remove him saying much more profane things, such as “ghetto b****.”
Another Sky player, Diamond DeShields, barreled into Clark and later shared one account saying they hoped her spinal tumor would come back.
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Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark’s rivalry has become a core WNBA storyline
Reese and LSU defeated Clark’s Iowa team in the national championship game last year, with Reese becoming a national talking point after she famously taunted Clark in the final seconds of the game. Clark’s profile has continued to rise since then, and Reese’s alongside it.
The discourse around the two players has become even louder now that they’re the clear top two players in the running for the WNBA Rookie of the Year award. Clark is the favorite given that she’s on pace to post the most assists ever in a WNBA season, the third-most 3-pointers and the only two rookie triple-doubles in WNBA history, along with leading the Fever to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Reese, however, already holds the WNBA single-season record for rebounds as well as the league’s longest double-double streak.
The WNBA would have wanted both of these players to become stars, and that wish is so far being granted. It hasn’t been a story without turbulence, though, and it isn’t fair to either player for Reese to deal with what she’s alleging.
Angel Reese alleges Caitlin Clark fans sent explicit AI images of her to her family: ‘There’s a lot of racism’
Reese has been criticized for her interactions with Clark dating back to the 2023 NCAA championship game
Nick Wright explains why Caitlin Clark is the clear Rookie of the Year at this point in the WNBA season over Angel Reese, then dives into the social media talk among both players across W coverage.
Angel Reese said what she wanted to say in her podcast debut on Thursday, all at the expense of Caitlin Clark fans.
In the first episode of her podcast, the WNBA Rookie of the Year contender used a segment to discuss her personal history with fans of her longtime rival, Clark.
Reese did not directly criticize Clark, but she reflected on the moment her interactions with Clark really began to ramp up. It occurred right when she made the celebratory gesture of pointing to her ring finger in Clark’s face during the final minutes of Reese’s and LSU’s NCAA title win over Clark and Iowa in the 2023 championship game.
It was a moment that Reese says “changed my life forever.” It was a moment that ignited a series of intense interactions between certain members of Clark’s passionate followers and Reese and some of her Chicago Sky teammates.
“I think it’s really just the fans, her fans, the Iowa fans, now the Indiana fans, that are really just, they ride for her, and I respect that, respectfully. But sometimes it’s very disrespectful. I think there’s a lot of racism when it comes to it,” Reese said.
Caitlin Clark, left, of the Indiana Fever and Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky look on during a game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on June 16, 2024, in Indianapolis. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
Reese went on to list death threats and people coming right to her home as an alleged example of a measure Clark’s fans have taken in response to their rivalry.
“People have come down to my address, followed me home, it’s come down to that,” Reese said.
Reese even alleges that some fans have made AI-generated images of her, depicting her without clothes on, and sent them to her family members.
“Multiple occasions, people have made AI-images of me naked. They have sent it to my family members. My family members are like uncles, sending it to me like, ‘Are you naked on Instagram?’” Reese said. “It sucks having to go through that and see other players have to go through that.”
Reese’s rivalry with Clark has culminated in several controversial moments throughout their college and pro careers already. There have been several instances in which those moments have resulted in high-profile scrutiny of Reese.
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Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark smiles as she looks at the team bench after making a pass to the basket that led to a score in the second half against the Dallas Wings, Sept. 1, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
After the initial moment in which Reese pointed to her finger in the 2023 NCAA women’s title game that she said “changed her life forever,” Barstool founder Dave Portnoy re-posted a video of the clip with the caption “Classless piece of s—,” on X. It’s a post that has 79.5 million views on X at the time of publication.
Portnoy levied similar attacks at Reese throughout the 2024 tournament and early in her WNBA career.
Similar incidents have happened to Reese’s Sky teammates for hard fouls on Clark in matchups against the Fever this season.
After committing a hard flagrant-1 foul that sent Clark flying across the floor in a game last week, Chicago’s Diamond DeShields posted screenshots of an Instagram user leaving hate comments on her post, referencing a tumor she had removed in 2020. That year, she was diagnosed with a benign tumor on her spinal cord in 2020. She risked paralysis when she had it surgically removed and suffered painful tremors while recovering from the procedure.
Sky guard Chennedy Carter committed one of the most scrutinized fouls of the WNBA season on Clark in an early June matchup, when Carter committed an illegal hip check on Clark while she was just standing there, knocking her to the hardwood.
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Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese grabs a rebound against the New York Liberty. (Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports)
She then responded to a flurry of criticism on social media for the foul with a post acknowledging it: “Troll notifications blowing up. I love it,” Carter wrote on X that day.
For Reese, Thursday was not the first time she has opened up about the treatment she gets online from Clark’s fans. After Reese and LSU lost to Clark and Iowa in this year’s Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, Reese cried in the press conference as she revealed what kind of things she had been told that year.
“I’ve been through so much. I’ve seen so much. I’ve been attacked so many times. Death threats, I’ve been sexualized, I’ve been threatened. There are so many things, and I’ve stood strong every single time. I just try to stand strong for my teammates because I don’t want them to see me down and not be there for them. I’m still a human. All of this has happened since I won the national championship. I said the other day I haven’t [been] happy since then.”
