Atlantic writer and former ESPN talker Jemele Hill delivered an f-bomb to sports commentator Dave Portnoy for saying LSU Tigers player Angel Reese was “classless” for taunting Iowa’s Caitlin Clark during Monday’s championship game.
On April 2, after the game, Portnoy jumped to his Twitter account to call Reese “classless.” Hill jumped in to reply, “fuck you.”
So I’m going to pick this fight. Fuck you. https://t.co/GAMrXgcJ0o
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) April 3, 2023
The name-calling started after Angel Reese hunted down Iowa’s Caitlin Clark after the Tigers handily won the NCAA championship on Sunday.
As the LSU Tigers won their first women’s basketball national championship, Reese made a point of confronting Caitlin Clark and waving her hand in front of her face in emulation of wrestler John Cena’s “you don’t see me” move. Then Reese took it a step further by pointing to her ring finger to let Clark know her team was bringing home the ring, not Clark’s.
Reese’s actions were in response to Clark’s hand waving in a previous game.
Despite the fact that both players performed the “can’t see me” wave, Portnoy said he does not see the two incidents as similar.
“I think you’re basically lying if you’re saying what Caitlin Clark did and Angel Reese did are the same thing — they’re not,” Portnoy said in a video posted to Twitter.
He added that trash-talking “in the moment” is perfectly fine, but added, “That is not what Angel Reese did.”
Unbiased opinion. This was really well said. pic.twitter.com/hZb4rdwLXn
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 4, 2023
Portnoy said what Reese did was classless because she went out of her way to chase down and taunt Clark after the game was won, not in the spur of the moment during a play.
“Find me one example in any sport, of anybody — after somebody wins a championship, confetti coming down, not in a close game — and find me a player stalking the best player on the other team,” Portnoy exclaimed.
“It is not sexist. It does not happen. If a man did that, he would be called ‘classless’ and nobody would be saying anything,” he added.
Portnoy also blasted those trying to make it about racism.
“100% facts. If I bet LSU I would be defending her from the treetops. I’ve said that from the beginning. I was rooting for Iowa. But what she did WAS classless. It literally has nothing to do with race and never did. I watch games. I shoot off tweets..” he wrote.
100% facts. If I bet LSU I would be defending her from the treetops. I’ve said that from the beginning. I was rooting for Iowa. But what she did WAS classless. It literally has nothing to do with race and never did. I watch games. I shoot off tweets. https://t.co/6FSBFb5TJi
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 3, 2023
Portnoy, though, was far from the only one calling Reese classless.
Former ESPN, Fox Sports, MSNBC, and CNN host Keith Olbermann called Reese a “fucking idiot.”
What a fucking idiot https://t.co/C8dW0tukfP
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) April 2, 2023
“Doesn’t matter the gender, the sport, the background – you’re seconds away from a championship and you do something like this and overshadow all the good. Mindless, classless, and what kind of coach does this team have?” he added.
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