Megan Rapinoe asks a ‘racist’ question amid Caitlin Clark-DiJonai Carrington drama

Megan Rapinoe commits a foul on Christine Brennan.

The longtime USWNT star weighed in on the ongoing WNBA outrage over USA Today columnist Brennan and her questioning of Sun guard DiJonai Carrington after she caught the eye of Fever star Caitlin Clark in the first-round playoff opener .

“When I heard it, of course, initially my internal reaction was like, this isn’t good, this doesn’t feel good,” Rapinoe told her “A Touch More” podcast co-host and partner Sue Bird in an episode that was published on Wednesday.

“This honestly feels racist. This feels like putting DiJonai in an impossible situation.”

The incident, which left Clark with a black eye, sparked intense criticism of Carrington from media, fans and viewers, who claimed she was unaware she had made contact with the Indiana freshman.

Clark also cleared Carrington of any wrongdoing.

That didn’t stop Brennan from further questioning the Connecticut guard about the push – and whether she and her teammates were laughing at Clark’s injury – which subsequently earned her a sharp rebuke from the WNBA players’ association.

“Okay, was it the first question or was it the second question and actually it’s neither,” Rapinoe said. “The premise of the question is disingenuous, so to try to jump into the conversation about what question or what word or what, you know – exactly at what point did it feel like that?” The whole thing is disingenuous because the whole premise is based on the belief that DiJonai – and this happens all year long, especially with DiJonai and Caitlin – that DiJonai is targeting Caitlin, or you know, that he’s being particularly tough on her going on, whatever… DiJonai is one of the best defenders in the WNBA. She’ll come at you – the premise of the question is based on the assumption that DJ has her sights set on DiJonai specifically punching or wiping Caitlin in the eyeball.

Rapinoe called the brouhaha incident “disingenuous” and also referred to the people who reported it with that label.

“I find it so disingenuous that Christine Brennan and other media people say, ‘I’m just asking, I’m just asking the question,’ but what’s really happening is your natural instinct is to protect and tell white players instead of chasing them and telling. “Black players, that’s really the problem for me,” Rapinoe said.

As evidence, Rapinoe pointed to Carrington’s performance compared to Clark – whose teammates swarm her to save her from technical fouls.

The comments were the latest in the ongoing drama surrounding the WNBA’s handling of the Carrington-Clark fallout. Clark and her WNBA colleagues, as well as the league itself, condemned the racist discourse that allegedly came from Indiana fans who support Clark.

“It’s definitely annoying. No one in our league should be subjected to any kind of racism — hurtful, disrespectful, hateful comments and threats,” Clark said last week after the Sun knocked their Fever out of the playoffs. “They’re not fans, they’re trolls, and that’s a real disservice to the people in our league, the organization, the WNBA.”