Sue Bird Says Fans Were Racist Toward WNBA Players Before Caitlin Clark: She’s ‘Being Used as a Pawn’

Clark recently said fans spewing racism against her opponents has been “a real disservice to the people in our league, the organization and the WNBA”

Sue Bird is calling out the racism permeating through the WNBA fandom — and defending Caitlin Clark amid ongoing discussions about fans slinging racist remarks towards the league’s Black players.

Clark, 22, has been at the center of discussions about racism in women’s basketball since her college days when her on-court rivalry with Angel Reese began making headlines late in the 2023 NCAA Tournament and some fans on social media began hurling racist remarks towards Reese.

The issue has carried over into the WNBA, both as Clark and Reese’s basketball rivalry continued throughout their rookie season and as Clark has shared physical play with other WNBA players on the court — most recently during a game when DiJonai Carrington poked Clark in the eye, and Clark later elbowed Carrington in the head.

After the Connecticut Sun eliminated Clark and the Indiana Fever from the WNBA playoffs, Sun forward Alyssa Thomas and head coach Stephanie White slammed fans for sending racist messages toward their team on social media.

Caitlin Clark.Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty

“It’s been a lot of nonsense,” Thomas told reporters after the series, earlier this week. “I think that in my 11-year career I never experienced the racial comments like from the Indiana Fever fan base.”

But on the most recent episode of Bird’s A Touch More podcast with her fiancée and former U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team star Megan Rapinoe, the four-time WNBA champion says she believes racism has existed within the WNBA’s fan base long before Clark entered the league earlier this year.

“Racism has been impacting the WNBA well before this year,” Bird tells Rapinoe. “This is not a new thing. In that way, I think Caitlin is being used as a pawn. Caitlin didn’t bring racism to the WNBA. This has been happening. And that, I think, has been a shock for all of us. That other people are surprised by this. We’ve been trying to tell you.”

Serena Williams Encourages Caitlin Clark to ‘Continue Doing What She’s Doing’ and Avoid Critics

Caitlin Clark and Sue Bird.Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty

Like Thomas, WNBA players have been calling out racist and misogynistic vitriol more as the season has continued.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Last week, Reese drew a line and said messages being sent to players that include “anything beyond criticism about playing the game we love is wrong.”

Clark also took an opportunity during a recent press conference to clarify that she doesn’t stand for any of her fans using derogatory, racist, or misogynistic comments to take digs at her opponents.

“It’s definitely upsetting,” Clark said. “Nobody in our league should be facing any sort of racism, hurtful, disrespectful, hateful comments and threats.”

Clark added: “Those aren’t fans, those are trolls, and it’s a real disservice to the people in our league, the organization and the WNBA.”