USA Today has been forced to issue an embarrassing correction after claiming WNBA star Caitlin Clark skipped the league’s All-Star festivities to ‘get her hair done.’
The outlet sparked outrage across social media on Friday after publishing a story asserting the Indiana Fever guard opted out of the WNBA’s Orange Carpet event in order to visit a hair salon in her hometown of Des Moines.
In reality, the 24-year-old missed the All-Star event to host a charity dinner for her own non-profit organization, the Caitlin Clark Foundation.
The publication had jumped on an Instagram post shared by Clark’s local hairstylist showing off her new curls, assuming the appointment was the sole reason behind her absence from the league’s festivities.
After a tidal wave of backlash and a Community Note added on X pointing out the error, USA Today was forced to backpedal and issue a formal clarification.
‘Clarification: Caitlin Clark was attending an event for the Caitlin Clark Foundation, which is why she missed the WNBA All-Star Weekend Orange Carpet,’ the outlet posted on social media alongside an updated article.
USA Today were forced to issue an embarrassing correction after claiming WNBA star Caitlin Clark skipped the league’s All-Star festivities simply to ‘get her hair done’
The outlet sparked outrage across social media on Friday after publishing a story asserting the Indiana Fever guard opted out of the WNBA’s Orange Carpet event
The blunder marks the second major media storm involving USA Today and the WNBA phenom in the span of just one week.
The outlet faced severe condemnation earlier in the week following an opinion column by veteran writer Nancy Armour that referenced Emmett Till while discussing Clark’s on-court play and the online reaction surrounding her fellow WNBA players.
Barstool founder Dave Portnoy was among those who took aim at the veteran sports columnist over the matter, jumping to Clark’s defense.
‘Congrats to USA Today’s Nancy Armour! She has written the dumbest paragraph not only of my lifetime but in the history of sports,’ the Barstool chief wrote on X, alongside a screen grab of the section in question.
‘This is an article that says @CaitlinClark22 arguing calls has become dangerous for the @wnba and civil rights. Nancy Armour should be put in a straight jacket and locked up. We can’t have these types of smooth brains roaming freely in society.’
The back-to-back missteps came right as Clark spoke out in a candid interview with ESPN, calling out sports media for creating a ‘false characterization’ of who she is.
‘I think there’s just like a false characterization of who I am sometimes,’ Clark told ESPN’s Malika Andrews. ‘I get people have a job to do, but at the same time, don’t make accusations about my character and who I am when you don’t know me.’
‘I understand this is your job and this is your profession, and this is what you do, but basketball is my profession,’ she added.
USA Today issued the clarification after getting hit with a community note on X
WNBA star Caitlin Clark has admitted she is ’emotionally exhausted’ and drained by the non-stop controversy surrounding her – as she opened up in a rare and candid interview with ESPN
‘And the reason I play it is when I step between the lines, I love it.’
Elsewhere in her ESPN interview, Clark admitted she is ’emotionally exhausted’ and drained by the non-stop controversy surrounding her, opening up in a candid interview about the constant off-court noise and on-court hostility.
‘When I walk out of the locker room, I shouldn’t be not fearful of what the conversation is gonna be… it’s emotionally exhausting. It’s draining,’ Clark confessed.
‘It makes your shoulders tense. Because, you know, people don’t wanna talk about the basketball. They just wanna stir it up and make something else,’ she told SportsCenter.
