Shannon Sharpe delves into racial, gender issues surrounding criticism of Angel Reese

A bulk of the discussion following the championship game of the Women’s NCAA Tournament, unfortunately, had little to do with basketball. The story is well worn by now: LSU star Angel Reese taunting or trash talking Iowa star Caitlin Clark in an almost identical fashion to the smack talk Clark dished out days prior.

And NFL star-turned-talking head Shannon Sharpe sounded off on the asymmetric criticism of Reese, highlighting how a Black woman bore the brunt of vitriol and blowback. Sharpe had no issue with Clark or Reese talking some trash — but took great umbrage with only one of them facing notable criticism.

“This is about the portrayal, of how women — we see it two different ways. 48 hours ago when Caitlin Clark did the John Cena, it was considered ‘swag.’ 48 hours later, Angel Reese does the exact same gesture, it’s ‘classless.’ Keith Olbermann went as far as to say she was an idiot, not just an idiot, an effing idiot. For you to stoop so low to call a college kid, a female, because she did a gesture. When you didn’t say anything when Caitlin Clark did it,” Sharpe said.

Sharpe continued, calling out colleague Danny Kanell for calling Reese “classless” when he offered no such criticism of Clark.

Ultimately, Sharpe said, it comes down to the fact that Clark fits the athlete role in the minds of critics in a way that Reese doesn’t. And the reason for that is pretty straightforward: Reese is Black.

“Skip, a lot of these women in college basketball, a lot of the Black athletes, they have their hair like — they have their lashes on, they have their nails done, a lot of them are tatted up, some of them have dreads. So they don’t project the role. And like she said, ‘I don’t fit your image. I don’t fit the box that you want me to fit in, and I’m cool with that.’ Angel Reese is what we call — she said ‘unapologetically me’ — she meant unapologetically Black. She’s talking about the little Black girl, don’t you feel some type of way. You represent who you are, you stand proud. And you stand on what you believe in,” Sharpe said.

Sharpe wants the players to talk their trash, prefacing his impassioned diatribe with the fact that he is not trying to take down Clark. The fact that her trash talk is accepted isn’t the issue, and is a sign of some of the progress happening with women’s basketball. He merely wants Reese and other Black athletes afforded the same license to talk trash.

“Don’t forget now, Caitlin Clark been talking that ish all — remember when her and the Louisville player got into it? And everybody went ‘Oh that’s swag. Oh Caitlin Clark, she’s like that. That’s the mamba mentality.’ Everybody was loving it,” Sharpe said. 

That stuff is fun, it’s been part of basketball since Larry Bird and Magic Johnson and long before then, and Sharpe sees no reason for it to be taboo — and especially so for Black players.

“It’s trash talk, it’s a part of the game. But white trash talk, and Black trash talk, is viewed entirely different. And we know why,” Sharpe said.