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Paul Pierce Breaks Silence on Caitlin Clark Remark After Controversial Take Triggers Fans’ Outburst

Published 04/05/2024, 9:40 PM EDT

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Paul Pierce is not new to attracting controversies due to his actions in front of the camera. Remember the infamous Instagram Live that got him fired from ESPN? Something similar happened on Monday. Caitlin Clark’s 41-point outburst against the LSU Tigers got Pierce a bit too excited. While The Truth spoke about his admiration for the Iowa Hawkeyes star, his choice of words failed to impress fans. Die to the backlash, the Boston Celtics icon decided to clear a few things up.

On his podcast The Truth Lounge, Pierce shared, “I said some things on the Undisputed the other day, that came out probably the wrong way, maybe offended some people… Now you got a predominantly white squad versus a predominantly black team in LSU.” He then equated this situation to the 1992 Cult Classic White Men Can’t Jump.

Pierce continued, “The game of basketball is predominantly black. So when you have a white player who comes in and kills. For example, I looked at White Men Can’t Jump. When Billy Hoyle (Woody Harrelson) came in the hood and killed. He was initially looked at, ‘he can’t hoop with the brothers in the hood.’ Once he started killing, he earned that respect.” Then he got back to Clark.

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“I’ve always respected Caitlin Clark, but when I see her do against a more athletic team…I was like…’My hats off to her.’  Not that it wasn’t before. It was like you get another respect. This was just in general.” But what had Pierce said on Undisputed that caused so much controversy?

A few days ago, during his appearance on Undisputed with Skip Bayless, Pierce had shared, “We saw a white girl in Iowa do it to a bunch of black girls. That gained my respect. She did it to some girls from LSU, who we thought were some dogs, defending champs.” Well, this choice of words can get troublesome for Pierce once again. 

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Is Paul Pierce’s Fox Sports contract at risk now?

Paul Pierce replaced NFL legend Shannon Sharpe on Undisputed just a few weeks back. Before Fox Sports, Pierce was with ESPN. He was initially a guest analyst during the 2016 Finals and later landed a contract in 2017. Four years later, in April 2021, the 10x All-Star’s controversial Instagram live put him under the bus. In the live video, he was enjoying a night party that involved a few NSFW activities. 

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ESPN took the harsh decision to fire him, and two years later, he made his come back to the broadcasting world. At the same time, he runs two podcasts, one ‘The Truth Lounge’ and the other, ‘Ticket and the Truth’ with his former teammate Kevin Garnett. Undisputed was his most recent venture. While Pierce has addressed this issue now, we can’t for sure say what the future holds for the 46-year-old.

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Written by:

Rohan Dharmalingam

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Rohan Dharmalingam is an NBA beat writer at EssentiallySports, who extensively covers the Lakers. Be it a multimillion dollar deal breaking or a classic throwback, Rohan has covered the many themes and formats. Most notably, his coverage received a shoutout from the Purple & Gold icon Shaquille O'Neal and the rap legend 50 Cent, on Instagram.
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Edited by:

Pragya Vashisth