Sheila Johnson, the only Black woman to co-own three major league pro teams, recently criticized Time magazine for this year’s selection of their “Athlete of The Year.”
In an CNN Sport interview, Johnson publicly questioned why the publication “couldn’t have put the whole WNBA on that cover” rather than Indiana rookie guard Caitlin Clark, this year’s winner.
The Washington Mystics, the NHL Washington Capitals and the NBA’s Washington Wizards co-owner pointed out that the media should do a better job of promoting all the league’s players rather than focusing on Clark, as most mainstream media and others did this past season, which saw huge increase in coverage of the W, viewership records set and overall attendance increased about 50%, its highest level in over 20 years.
Many attributed this to Clark, who was Rookie of the Year and became the first rookie since 2008 to make the all-WNBA first team.
“When you just keep singling out one player, it creates hard feelings,” stated Johnson. “This year, something clicked with the WNBA and it’s because of the draft of players that came in.
“It’s not just Caitlin Clark, it’s (Angel) Reese …. We have so much talent out there,” added Johnson, who also co-founded BET.
However, as has been the case ever since Clark’s arrival, if many of her followers, fans, or idol worshippers even remotely sense criticism, you are a hater.
Now, Johnson is on that list joining such legendary retired stars as Sheryl Swoopes.
Although Clark has largely deflected such talk, the fact that the PWM (primarily White media) has largely ignore the 27-year WNBA, which is mostly Black and gay, to finally found a heterosexual White female (Clark) with star power suited for their attention. As a result, social media and PWM went totally bonkers and blindly ignoring the discourse about race in the U.S. as well as pitted an on-court rivalry between Reese and Clark, and with Clark against other Black players this season.
Johnson pointed out, “I think the media has got to be very, very careful to not make this a race issue, and that’s what’s really important. I’m concerned about the infighting and the racial innuendos going on because that’s going to turn advertisers away from us.”
I applauded and support Johnson speaking out. And she doesn’t deserve the brickbats of criticism she has received since her CNN interview: “The WNBA is at an inflection point where we’re really starting to go up, and I don’t want to lose that momentum,” surmised Johnson.
Sadly, in our current divisiveness society that we live in, it is almost expected that when you’re talking about Clark, or not talking about Clark, or you are talking about race or not talking about race, that criticism is unavoidable.