The NCAA women’s Championship Final has been making headlines for the past few days after LSU star Angel Reese came under fire for pointing out her ring finger to Iowa State’s Caitlin Clark, while enacting the ‘You can’t C me’ gesture. Several media personalities and talking heads lashed out at her, calling her ‘classless’. But the backlash against her was quickly superseded by a sea of support calling out the suspicious nature of the overreaction against Reese’s seemingly harmless gesture.
At first, it was ‘uncle’ Shaquille O’Neal, who called out the detractors. And now another NBA legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has come to her aid. In his new Substack article, the former NBA all-time leading scorer defended the 20-year-old star, ripping apart a $100 million worth celebrity for his tasteless ‘classless piece of sh*t’ comment against a young Black woman.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar blasts Dave Portnoy for his Angel Reese criticism
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Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy took an aggressive dig at the Bayou Barbie for her antics during the Championship game. Reacting to the controversial moment of the game, the 46-year-old called her a ‘classless piece of s**t’. When it came to the attention of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he called out Portnoy for his suspicious overreaction to a seemingly harmless incident.
Classless piece of shit https://t.co/e2qo7g5iXi
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 2, 2023
Abdul-Jabbar felt that there is nothing wrong with a bit of trash talking in the heat of intense competition. He pointed out Clark doing a similar ‘You can’t see me’ celebration only a week before. The six-time NBA champion didn’t find it to be a ‘big deal’. Not only that but the Hall of Famer also pointed out how Clark had defended her opponent for the gesture. However, Abdul-Jabbar found something sinister about the whole thing.
The Los Angeles Lakers legend wasn’t going to let Portnoy’s disparaging remarks slide. Abdul-Jabbar felt that the the Barstool founder ‘elevated it to racist’ rhetoric, given his differential treatment of Reese. The legendary center wrote in his new Substack post, “Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is taking it from all sides on Twitter after an aggressive March Madness tweet that seemed to display some pretty glaring contradictions….It certainly isn’t worthy of the cruel criticism toward a Black player when the White player she directed it toward had done the same gesture the previous week…Portnoy’s peevish comment would merely be silly based on what happened, but he’s elevated it to racist based on who he directed it at—and who he didn’t.”
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The NCAA Most Outstanding Player has been unapologetic for her display during LSU’s historic win. Reese became an inspiration overnight solely because of her brand of basketball. Karem Abdul-Jabbar had a clear message, trash talking is a part of not just basketball but any sport. No one should be the target of criticism for such reasons.
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