Caitlin Clark’s introductory press conference with the Indiana Fever went awry after a local reporter’s uncomfortable exchange with the basketball star went viral on social media.

During the 22-year-old’s presser on April 17, columnist Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star used his time to hold up his hands to form a heart towards her, a gesture Clark is known for doing with her family after every game.

Clark said, “You like that?” after Doyel’s gesture, to which he replied: “I like that you’re here.”

Clark added, “Yeah, I do that at my family after every game.” Doyel responded, “Start doing it to me and we’ll get along just fine.”

The comment was met with laughter in the conference room, but Clark seemed to be confused and uncomfortable during the exchange with Doyel.

And the comment set social media ablaze with users criticizing Doyel and calling for his credentials to be revoked by the Indiana Fever.

“Almost every one of my women colleagues & students in sport media and sports journalism are sharing that clip of Gregg Doyel and Caitlin Clark with disgust,” one user wrote. “We are rightly furious and fed up. His creds should be revoked and offered to an unentitled journalist who respects women.”

Doyel responded to the backlash in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Wednesday evening.

“Today in my uniquely oafish way, while welcoming @CaitlinClark22 to Indy, I formed my hands into her signature,” Doyel began. “My comment afterward was clumsy and awkward. I sincerely apologize. Please know my heart (literally and figuratively) was well-intentioned. I will do better.”

Later, Doyel released a column in which apologized to Clark. “Caitlin Clark, I’m so sorry. Today I was part of the problem,” he wrote in a post with the column’s link.

“What I’ve learned is that I need to be more aware about how I talk to people — not just athletes,” Doyel wrote in his column. “You can say that’s absurd, that I should’ve known better, and I do. But here we are. I was just doing what I do, talking to another athlete, another person, and didn’t see the line — didn’t even know there was a line in the vicinity — until I crossed it.”

He added, “In my haste to be clever, to be familiar and welcoming (or so I thought), I offended Caitlin and her family.”

Moreover, fans on social media found other examples of questionable professionalism towards Clark from Doyel.

When it came for Fever coach Christie Sides to speak with reporters beside Clark, Doyel asked, “You were just given the keys to that,” referring to Clark. “What are you going to do with it?”

In a post on X promoting his initial column about Clark’s presser, Doyel wrote, “Watching the reaction as new Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark met Indianapolis, it hit me just how much the world has asked of her for four years. And we’re about to ask for more. It’s too much, but we’re going to do it. And she’ll probably deliver.”

Clark has not commented on the exchange with Doyel. She will play her first preseason game with the Fever on May 3 against the Dallas Wings.