Photo of Jemele Hill smiling and photo of Caitlin Clark holding thumbs up
Jemele Hill and Caitlin Clark (Getty Images)
Jemele Hill has taken to social media this Wednesday in an attempt to clear up what she said about Caitlin Clark in a recent interview.

Hill spoke to Uproxx last week and discussed Clark’s rise as a female basketball star, noting women’s basketball has been trending upward for a while now and the uptick did not start with the Iowa Hawkeyes star.

She compared Clark and other white stars to A’ja Wilson, who she said hardly gets as much coverage as white players.

Hill suggested that her claim was based on a study she used to write a recent column for The Atlantic.

“She’s probably the best player in the world right now,” she said of Wilson in her Uproxx interview. “And I’m not trying to act like she gets no coverage, but the coverage that sometimes non-white women get, or specifically Black women get, is not even close. It’s two-to-one.“

Jemele Hill Breaks It Down

The comments unsurprisingly earned Jemele Hill some backlash, prompting her to take to X/Twitter to clarify what she said.

“Breanna Stewart would like a word,” she posted on Wednesday afternoon. “Caitlin isn’t the first white player to dominate. There’s been a long list of white players who have dominated. The scoring record she broke was held by a white player (Kelsey Plum).”

She added:

1) I never said CC only received media attention because she is white, so this entire post is just wrong

2) what i was discussing is how the media is complicit in why other Black female players often don’t receive as much media coverage (which is backed up by an academic study) for their accomplishments.

I know this is difficult for people to grasp but more than one thing can be true at one time.

1) CC is a legend and generational talent

2) the media overall needs to be better and smarter with how they cover women’s basketball, because they’ve missed so many opportunities to highlight incredible players”

Breanna Stewart would like a word. Caitlin isn’t the first white player to dominate. There’s been a long list of white players who have dominated. The scoring record she broke was held by a white player (Kelsey Plum)

1) I never said CC only received media attention because she…

This is probably not going to help her case in the court of public opinion, but at least Hill has explained the point she was trying to make.

Meanwhile, Clarke and the Hawkeyes are through to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament following a win over LSU on Monday night. Iowa lost to the Tigers in last year’s final but got the better of Kim Mulkey’s girls this time around, with Clark now looking to cement her legacy by winning a national title.

The Hawkeyes are scheduled to play the UConn Huskies in the semis in Cleveland this Friday.