UPDATE 5/8/24 6:42 A.M. PT: It’s now been revealed that Doyle was handed a two week suspension following the controversial comments made about Clark. Not only that, but he will be barred from attending any of the team’s games in person, which will also remove him from press conferences with players. He will still write about the games, just from his home. Thoughts on all this Perezcious readers??
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A very well-known sports columnist who writes for the Indianapolis Star newspaper is coming under fire right now after a completely inappropriate and insensitive comment directed at college basketball superstar-turned-WNBA prospect Caitlin Clark!
Clark played her college ball at the University of Iowa for the last four years and took the country by storm with her incredible achievements on the court. She was just drafted by the Indiana Fever into the WNBA to begin her professional career this week, too. And Indy Star columnist Gregg Doyel celebrated the achievement by… uh… SAYING WHAT?!
Related: Creepy Old Footage Resurfaces Of Diddy And 15-Year-Old Justin Bieber! WTF!
On Wednesday, Doyel took to X (Twitter) to mock Clark’s infamous heart-hands gesture. In case you didn’t know, the baller is well-known for shaping her fingers into a heart to show support and love to her teammates. Cute and fun, right?! Well, Doyel saw it differently. In a since-deleted tweet, he wrote this about the gesture:
“Start doing it to me and we’ll get along just fine.”
Uhh… WTF??
What kind of weirdly sexist and unsettling s**t is that to demand of a 22-year-old woman in sports?! X absolutely EXPLODED with takes in reaction Gregg’s terrible tweet. The heat got so hot, in fact, that he not only deleted the message and tried to offer up a tepid apology, but he wrote a column about the whole thing!! That’s right, he went after clicks in pursuit of a controversy entirely instigated by… himself! Ooookay?!
First, his apology that came later on Wednesday afternoon (below):
“Today in my uniquely oafish way, while welcoming @CaitlinClark22 to Indy, I formed my hands into her signature ????. My comment afterward was clumsy and awkward. I sincerely apologize. Please know my heart (literally and figuratively) was well-intentioned. I will do better.”
Today in my uniquely oafish way, while welcoming @CaitlinClark22 to Indy, I formed my hands into her signature ????. My comment afterward was clumsy and awkward. I sincerely apologize. Please know my heart (literally and figuratively) was well-intentioned. I will do better.
— Gregg Doyel (@GreggDoyelStar) April 17, 2024
Then, like we said, he turned around and wrote a self-serving column about the controversy that HE AND HE ALONE caused:
Caitlin Clark, I'm so sorry. Today I was part of the problem.https://t.co/y2fhhWOAim
— Gregg Doyel (@GreggDoyelStar) April 18, 2024
Ain’t nobody readin’ that, dude!! Thousands and thousands of X users popped up in the replies slamming Doyel for his take. They also blasted his follow-up column and called him out for going after cheap clicks:
“Not part you were the only problem”
“Nothing says, ‘I’m sorry,’ like making us click on your column so you can get clicks.”
“About 8 hours too late Greg. Damage has been done. You knew exactly what you were doing. @indystar should let you go.”
“My god dude. It’s wasn’t the hand gesture, although that alone is cringe worthy. You essentially told a woman half your age ‘show me affection and we’ll get along just fine.’ Thats not ‘conversational and familiar.’ That’s sexual harassment.”
“No sports organization should allow you into any press conference ever again. What you did was disgusting.”
“The original tweet wasn’t enough you had to turn it into an article to get clicks. Just resign. Please.”
“Nah man you’re straight up creepy”
“You won’t do better. You will continue to be an arrogant narcissist. You tried to make yourself appear to be important. You’re not.”
“clumsy and awkward is an interesting way to describe creepy and unprofessional”
“Just stop, man. Stop. Writing a column for hits after issuing an apology on Twitter doesn’t say much about your sincerity. It says, ‘I know this column will probably get lots of hits since everyone is angry at my actions.’ Stop.”
Damn!
Even Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy called him out with the “pervert” label:
Okay pervert https://t.co/xzWc2Xal3c
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 18, 2024
Dude, when Dave Portnoy is calling YOU a pervert, you know you went too far!! Just saying! Reactions, y’all?? What do U make of this awful tweet and the firestorm that followed?! Share your takes in the comments (below)…
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