Elle Duncan blames Caitlin Clark, her fans for media smear campaign while ignoring facts
On Tuesday, OutKick explained that the conversation about Caitlin Clark cannot shift toward basketball until the players and media members who fueled the hysteria acknowledge their role in creating the hysteria.
Case in point: Former ESPN host Elle Duncan.
Hours after our column was published, Duncan blamed the drama on—wait for it—Caitlin Clark and her fans. Who else? According to Duncan, it’s Clark’s responsibility to condemn fans who choose his name to serve their own agenda.
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“I’d love to say it clearly to people who think they’re his fans but are using him: ‘Stop it…, I don’t want it, I’m tired of it.’ Contrary to what we see, ‘the media creates these narratives, the media creates this discourse,'” Duncan said on the “Sports Gossip Show” podcast.
Duncan was referring to Clark telling ESPN over the weekend that the media “controls the narrative around it” and “sometimes it’s so far from reality.”
“The media has been highlighting and showing the stories,” Duncan continued, “but at the same time the media has not claimed that members of Congress are actually trying to get government intervention in whether or not you should be fouled very hard.” “Like, this stuff needs to stop.”
Elle Duncan arrives at the 7th Annual Sports Power Brunch: Celebrating the Most Powerful Women in Sports at the Four Seasons San Francisco on February 4, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Jeff Schear/Getty Images)
Duncan’s attempt to defend the media’s role in the hostility surrounding Clark is particularly telling; The initiative comes less than a week after USA Today published an op-ed arguing that Clark’s style of play could lead to the lynching of Black and gay women like Emmett Till. No, this is not satire. The outlet actually published this story.
You’ll almost laugh at the solution Duncan suggests. In his opinion, the way to calm things down for Clark is for Clark to condemn the fans who defend him while players put their arms around his throat and television analysts denigrate his character.
Moreover, Duncan completely ignores the fact that Clark has repeatedly done the very thing Duncan accuses him of avoiding.
“People should not be using my name to advance these agendas. It’s disappointing. It’s unacceptable,” Clark said in 2024. “Treating every woman in this league with the same amount of respect, I think that’s a basic human thing that everyone should do.”
Perhaps Duncan would have preferred Clark to spend less time focusing on his game and more time responding to whatever arguments were generated.
Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark (22) makes a free throw during a game against the Seattle Storm at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington on July 28, 2026. (Scott Eklund/NBAE via Getty Images)
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New York Post columnist Kirsten Fleming elaborated on this on Wednesday:
“No matter how many times CC says what everyone wants her to say, it’s not enough. They demand more. They want her to respond to every bullshit and give her way more oxygen than she deserves. This is giving women a bad name. This isn’t Bravo, it’s hoopla. Let it hoopla.”
Actually.
What’s more, Clark doesn’t have a magic wand to stop random people on the internet from posting. By Duncan’s logic, Elle Duncan is responsible for every racist threat made against Clark on social media.
Later in the episode, Duncan calls Clark’s supporters “fake” because he assumes everyone approaches sports fandom like he does, as an extension of culture and identity politics. Duncan likely admires players like Lamar Jackson, Angel Reese or Jalen Hurts for reasons that go far beyond sports.
But that’s not the average fan’s perspective on the sport.
Most fans are attracted to interesting generation athletes. Caitlin Clark is one of them. So are Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Steph Curry, Serena Williams and Patrick Mahomes.
Duncan explains himself. This is called projection.
Indiana Fever player #22 Caitlin Clark reacts after an ugly foul by Chicago Sky #0 player Diamond DeShields at Wintrust Arena on August 30, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Getty Images)
OutKick asked Duncan via text message why he was downplaying the media’s role in the firestorm surrounding Caitlin Clark. He did not respond before publication. If so we will update this story.
As we noted earlier this week, the conversation about Caitlin Clark cannot turn to basketball as long as these malicious actors remain at the center.
Racist idolaters like Duncan, Monica McNutt, Angel Reese, Jemele Hill, Nancy Armor, and others will never admit their mistakes because of their deep resentment of Clark’s success.
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The only way for a straight white woman from Iowa to transcend her niche sport is to insist that her popularity is merely a product of racism and privilege.
Listen to the disdain with which Duncan speaks. She claims to care about the WNBA. His interpretation is that he would rather see the league return to obscurity than succeed with the support of Caitlin Clark.
