Getty Images
Shannon Sharpe has responded to the viral conversations about Angel Reese‘s sportsmanship, including Keith Olbermann’s ‘f**king idiot’ comment. Following her NCAA championship win, Reese gestured at opposing Iowa Hawkeyes player Caitlin Clark using the same motion Caitlin has used twice recently.
The gesture, John Cena’s famed “You Can’t See Me,” put Reese in the center of controversial backlash amid her 103-85 win. While the focus has been on a returned taunt, the athlete also won Most Outstanding Player in the women’s basketball Final Four.
Meanwhile, Sharpe, Shaq, and Stephen A. Smith–have stepped to Angel’s defense. Before addressing the trending talk, Shannon warned Skip Bayless on Undisputed that his comment was not personal. Instead, Sharpe said it was about the differences in portrayal.
“Forty-eight hours ago, when Caitlin Clark did the John Cena, it was considered swag. Forty-eight hours later, Angel Reese does the exact same gesture, it’s classless. Keith Olbermann went as far to say she was an idiot, not just an idiot but an f–ing 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… Skip, it’s funny how America, society sees Black and White.”
Meanwhile, Shaq responded directly to Keith’s tweet, telling him, “shut your dumb a** up leave Angel Reese alone.”
Stephen also spoke up via Twitter. He said:
“When Caitlin Clark did it…people were celebrating it and talking about nothing but her greatness. BUT the SECOND a sister stepped up and threw it back in her face, everyone is mad. Come on!”
As The Shade Room last reported, Caitlin also gestured the same move at other players during the Elite Eight and Final Four. Several videos of her making the motion started circulating online as players came to Reese’s defense.
Reese also addressed the controversy following her win, saying she’s been critiqued all year for who she is. Adding, “I don’t fit the narrative” in a post-game interview.
“I don’t fit the box that y’all want me to be in. I’m too hood, I’m too ghetto, y’all told me that all year. When other people do it, and y’all don’t say nothing. So this was for the girls that look like me.”
She added that “Twitter is going to go into a rage every time,” seemingly unbothered by the backlash.
There seemed to be no issues among the women themselves that they vocalized. Reese called Caitlin a “hell of a player for sure,” blaming the gesture on being “in [her] bag…in [her] moment.”
Per ESPN, Caitlin said she didn’t notice any negativity from the LSU Tigers or Angel Reese.
“I was just trying to get to the handshake line and be grateful that my team was in that position,” Caitlin Clark said. “All the credit in the world to LSU. They were tremendous. They deserve it, they had a tremendous season.”
Caitlin also shared props for LSU’s coach Kim Mulkey, calling her “one of the best basketball coaches of all time.”
