The Big Lead

WNBA players union calls out Christine Brennan for 'unprofessional' interview

By Joe Lago

Jul 24, 2024; Paris, France; Imagn Images columnist Christine Brennan during an IOC press conference to announce Salt Lake City as host of the 2034 Winter Olympics at the Paris 2024 Olympics main press center at the Palais des congres de Paris. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Jul 24, 2024; Paris, France; Imagn Images columnist Christine Brennan during an IOC press conference to announce Salt Lake City as host of the 2034 Winter Olympics at the Paris 2024 Olympics main press center at the Palais des congres de Paris. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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The WNBA players union called on USA Today to discipline columnist Christine Brennan for asking Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington if she purposely tried to injure Indiana Fever rookie star Caitlin Clark.

Carrington poked Clark in the eye during the teams' first-round playoff series opener last Sunday. Two days later, Brennan asked Carrington about her defense on Clark and if she intended "to hit her in the eye." Carrington said no, explaining she was just "trying to make a play on the ball" and that dirty play is "not the type of player I am."

RELATED: Caitlin Clark offers solution to WNBA's 'racism' and 'hateful comments'

Brennan then asked why Carrington and teammate Marina Mabrey were "laughing" about the incident afterward. Carrington rejected the accusation. "I just told you I didn't even know I hit her, so I can't laugh about something I didn't know that happened," Carrington said.

On Friday, with Clark addressing the WNBA's growing problem of "racism" and "hateful comments" that has come with increased popularity, the WNBPA released a statement that called for USA Today and the league to review its ethics codes and policies due to Brennan's alleged "violation of several core principles."

"That so-called interview in the name of journalism was a blatant attempt to bait a professional athlete into participating in a narrative that is false and designed to to fuel, racist, homophobic, and misogynistic vitriol on social media," the players union said in a statement.

"You have abused your privileges and do not deserve credentials issued to you," the WNBPA said in its further rebuke of Brennan. "And you certainly are not entitled to any interviews with the members of this union or any other athlete in sport."

USA Today responded to the players union with a statement of its own Friday, declaring that Brennan was following the company's mission "to report in an unbiased manner."

"We reject the notion that the interview perpetuated any narrative other than to get the player's perspective directly," USA Today Sports executive editor Roxanna Scott said. "Christine Brennan is well regarded as an advocate for women and athletes, but first and foremost, she's a journalist."

Maybe someday the WNBA — its players and coaches and the media that covers the league — can just focus on basketball. And that day can't come quick enough.

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