It hasn’t been a good week for USA Today when it comes to its coverage of Caitlin Clark.
The legacy outlet was at the center of a firestorm after an opinion column from veteran writer Nancy Armour after she linked Clark’s on-court flopping to the lynching of Emmett Till. While Armour was trying to shed light on the threats facing Black WNBA players who run afoul of Clark, her intention to blame Clark herself was a step way out of bounds.
Armour issued a statement about the controversy, stating her words were “inartful” but not going as far as to directly apologize for using one of the most horrific instances of racial violence in American history to make a point about a basketball player. In an edit to the piece, USA Today still put the weight of responsibility on Clark for the terrible actions of others and left in the Emmett Till comparison, despite Clark’s own comments condemning any kind of hate toward her fellow WNBA players and the tidal wave of criticism.
Incredibly, it wasn’t the only Caitlin Clark controversy to hit USA Today this week.
On Thursday, Clark was absent from the WNBA’s orange carpet event at All-Star weekend. Originally, USA Today published an article based on an Instagram post showing her getting her hair done, saying that’s why she skipped the league’s festivities.
As it turned out, that was only in preparation for doing an event for her own foundation. USA Today was forced to correct the record and issued a social media clarification in addition to updating the article.
Clarification: Caitlin Clark was attending an event for the Caitlin Clark Foundation, which is why she missed the WNBA All-Star Weekend Orange Carpet.
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) July 24, 2026
Is USA Today out to get Caitlin Clark and doing as much as they can to try to tarnish her reputation? First came the Armour column, which may have been one of the most inflammatory articles ever written about the Indiana Fever star. Then came the All-Star article that made it look like she was skipping out on WNBA All-Star festivities for a hair appointment.
It would be ridiculous to suggest that USA Today had any nefarious motives here when it came to covering one of the biggest stars in sports. It would make no sense whatsoever for one of the straightest of straight-laced publications to do so. But their errors in judgment and execution this week in their coverage of Caitlin Clark have truly been astonishing.
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