WNBA Fans Rip Commissioner Cathy Engelbert's Bird-Magic Reference

On the receiving end of what many fans thought was a soft lob of a question about rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and the racially charged vitriol their arrival into the WNBA has created amongst some fans, league commissioner Cathy Engelbert failed to give a slam-dunk answer in the eyes of many.

During an appearance on an appearance on CNBC's Power Lunch, anchor Tyler Mathisen mentioned race and sexuality are sometimes mentioned on social media by the respective fanbases of Clark and Reese. Then, he had a question for Engelbert.

"How do you try and stay ahead of that... or act as a league when two of your most visible players are involved — not personally, it would seem, but their fanbases are involved — in saying some very uncharitable things about the other?" Mathisen asked.

Instead of answering the question directly or taking the opportunity to chastise fans who use the Clark-Reese to advance their own bigoted ideas using anonymous social media handles as camouflage, Engelbert used her platform to appeal to the WNBA's corporate sponsors by touting the increased visibility of the league and its young stars with a reference to Larry Bird and Magic Johnson's iconic rivalry. (Which was also a friendship.)

"Well the one thing that's great about the league right now, we do sit at this intersection of culture, and sports, and fashion, and music. Like, the WNBA players are really looked at now as kind of cultural icons," Engelbert said. "And when you have that, you have a lot of attention on you. There's no more apathy. Everybody cares. It is a little bit of that Bird-Magic moment if you recall, from 1979. When those two rookies came in from a big college rivalry, one white, one Black. And so we have that moment with these two."

Engelbert, a 59-year-old who has served as the WNBA's commissioner since 2019 wasn't done. "But the one thing I know about sports, you need rivalry," she added. "That's what makes people watch. They want to watch games of consequence between rivals. They don't want everybody being nice to one another. It's a balance. But certainly from a marketing dollars, but corporate partners are stepping up to endorse these players much more so than they were five years ago."

As is often the case, social media was not pleased with what Engelbert had to say and her remarks were viewed as tone-deaf if not downright toxic.

"Pull your head out of your ass," wrote one X user. "Players are getting racist death threats. It's not a fun little rivalry."

"What the hell are u talking about?!" wrote another. "The W is supposed to step up, CONDEMN AND BAN "FANS" who are sending anti-black racial threats, doxxing, and committing digital sex felonies. SHAME ON YOU. YOU NEED TO BE REPLACED AS WNBA COMMISH BY SOMEONE WHO CARES!"

"So you're saying a little *racism* is ok, if *help* increase viewership, marketing & endorsement?" was another response. "Completely unacceptable response."

A fourth user posted a fairly common refrain: "Hey Cathy Engelbert. You suck."

Definitely not a great day to be Engelbert.