USA Today Columnist Invokes Emmett Till’s Lynching to Attack Caitlin Clark’s Fans
Congress warned the WNBA it was letting players attack Caitlin Clark on national television.
One USA Today columnist just made Clark's own fans the real villains of her column.
USA Today's response to the fallout left other sports reporters stunned.
Congress Demanded Answers While USA Today Blamed the Fans
Eleven House Republicans sent WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert a letter demanding the league finally protect its biggest star.
Committee Chairman August Pfluger wrote that "Clark has been hip-checked, poked in the eye, and struck in the throat during games."
That letter came two weeks after Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas drove her fist into Clark's throat during a June 24 game.
No foul was called on the floor.
The league only upgraded the play to a flagrant foul and suspended Thomas one game after a review.
Refs are still missing the obvious.
Officials also hit Clark with her seventh technical of the season for saying "Look at the scoreboard" to an opponent – the same night Alyssa Thomas again went uncalled for knocking her to the floor.
Rep. Mark Alford went on air and said the WNBA could be looking at a Department of Justice investigation if Engelbert keeps ignoring the pattern.
Congress gave the WNBA until July 24 to respond, and the league still has not.
Armour Invokes Till Then Insists Her Point Still Stands
Instead of addressing the fouls, USA Today handed Nancy Armour a column and she handed the WNBA a disaster.
Her piece ran under the headline "Caitlin Clark's flopping isn't just annoying – it's becoming dangerous."
Armour argued Clark's reactions to bad calls put Black and queer players in the league in physical danger.
Then she went somewhere no sports columnist should go.
Her logic connected Clark's complaints about fouls to the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till, whose hometown of Chicago was hosting the WNBA's 2026 All-Star Game.
A 24-year-old basketball player asking for a foul call got compared to a 14-year-old boy murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman.
Even sportswriters who cover this beat for a living could not stomach it.
The Athletic's Sam Vecenie said he had no idea how an editor let the paragraph run.
Dave Portnoy called it the worst sports column he had ever read.
Armour eventually posted a statement calling her Till comparison "inartful."
She never retracted the underlying accusation, insisting her broader point about danger to Black players still stands.
USA Today stood behind her, telling reporters the piece was "clearly labeled Opinion" and only needed an editor's note for clarity.
Even NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who called the congressional letter itself racially motivated in a July 15 Substack post, never went anywhere near what Armour wrote.
The League Built On Clark Is Now Attacking Her Fans
This is the same league that would not exist in its current form without Caitlin Clark.
Attendance, ratings, and merchandise sales all exploded the moment she turned pro.
Instead of thanking her, the WNBA's own coverage now treats her supporters as suspects.
Armour was not describing racists in the stands.
She was describing anyone who wants a foul called when a grown woman drives her fist into another woman's throat.
That is not a fringe position.
That is what fans watching at home saw with their own eyes.
USA Today had a chance to pull the column, run a real correction, and apologize to the family of a lynching victim used as a debating prop.
Instead the paper stood behind Armour and let her walk back one word while keeping the accusation intact.
Little girls who grew up wanting to be Caitlin Clark are watching a legacy newspaper suggest their support for her makes them suspects in a race crime.
Commissioner Engelbert still owes Congress an answer.
Now USA Today owes Clark's fans one too.
Sources:
- Joe Hoft, "The WNBA Aligns with the Radical Left and Attacks Caitlin Clark's Fans Labeling Them Racist," JoeHoft.com, July 24, 2026.
- Fox News/OutKick, "USA Today Reporter Apologizes for Invoking Emmett Till in Column About Caitlin Clark After Upsetting the Woke," Fox News, July 23, 2026.
- Fox News/OutKick, "Dave Portnoy Blasts USA Today Columnist for Claiming Caitlin Clark's Referee Complaints Fuel Racism," Fox News, July 23, 2026.
- Washington Times, "USA Today Writer Apologizes for Emmett Till Comparison to Caitlin Clark," Washington Times, July 23, 2026.
- The Daily Signal, "GOP Lawmakers Press WNBA Commissioner to Protect Caitlin Clark," Daily Signal, July 2026.
- NewsNation, "Caitlin Clark WNBA Letter Could Lead to DOJ Investigation, Congressman Says," NewsNation, July 2026.
