Sports talk show host Joy Taylor is being buried under an avalanche of fan outrage when she suggested that WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark would not have this colossal level of fame if it were not for Angel Reese.
To recap for fans, Reese became a national lightning rod for controversy and impassioned debate after her LSU Tigers thoroughly defeated Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes in the national championship game in 2023. As the seconds wound down, Reese taunted Clark by pointing to her own finger to signify that she was going to wear the championship ring, not Clark. The nation seemed to detonate instantaneously with hate for Reese.
Joy Taylor was rebuffed by national sports experts
Many national sports pundits point out that Clark became a national darling before the title game, when CC and her unlikely band of teammates shockingly defeated coach Dawn Staley and her powerhouse South Carolina squad in the semifinal game.
Taylor disagrees and said she will “die on this hill” by vehemently proclaiming that Clark’s fame was greatly enhanced by having a villain in Reese.
“[The Clark vs. Reese rivalry] has now spun into this thing where, like, Caitlin is better than Angel, and blah blah blah,” Taylor said. “I just said that we would not be talking about Caitlin Clark the way that we do if it wasn’t for that moment with Angel Reese. And I will die on this hill. I will die on this hill.”
Taylor raged on, frequently throwing out profanities to convey her sentiments on “The Joe Budden Podcast.”
“It’s crazy to me, every time I bring this up, they’re like, ‘Angel’s not better. We would’ve been talking about her anyway.’ No the f–k you wouldn’t. You f—ing wouldn’t,” said Taylor. “And the reason you wouldn’t is I do this every god—n day. I know what we talk about on my show. We were not doing WNBA topic — whole 15-minute segments — on the f—ing show until that happened.”
Taylor doubled down on her statements even when she got pushback from Budden and his co-hosts.
“F–k off. I know what I’m talking about. It’s not about saying that Angel’s better than Caitlin or that Caitlin wouldn’t be a great player. It’s principal storytelling. I’m not making this up. I know what I’m talking about.”
Sports fans pummel Joy Taylor for denigrating Caitlin Clark
Many fans were disgusted with Taylor’s questionable take and took to Marcellus Wiley’s YouTube page and other platforms to scorch Taylor into oblivion.
“Joy [owes] her fame to b—ing her boss,” said one fan, while a second said, “If it wasn’t for Jason Taylor and the plastic surgeon, no one would be talking about Joy Taylor!”
Some fans backed Joy Taylor. Well, sort of.
“She is wrong and right at the same time. CC would have always had fans (wrong), but the ‘rivalry’ with Angel took it to another level (right) with a record number of TV viewers and attendance,” one fan said.
A second fan said, “Joy isn’t wrong at all. BUT what Joy fails to realize is that no one would be talking about Reese if not because of Caitlin Clark. Clark’s skill and game play would have gotten her fame eventually, all that moment in college did was speed up the process. But no one would have cared about someone averaging 10PPG, 12 RPG who shoots 35% from the paint. If no one (not even Black women) talked about Aja Wilson, no one at all would have been talking about Reese. Clark put Reese on the map.”
