Angel Reese Sees Those Racist Narratives and Calls BS

Louisiana State University's women's basketball team became national champions for the first time ever after defeating the University of Iowa on Sunday. To celebrate, star player Angel Reese imitated John Cena's infamous "You Can't See Me" hand gesture at Iowa's Caitlin Clark, adding a flourish by pointing at her ring finger, suggesting that she'd soon place a championship ring on it.

Though Reese's gesture obviously referenced Clark—a white woman who, just a week earlier, waved her hands in a similar fashion at a losing team—some spectators had wildly different reactions to the two women. Clark's taunting of Louisville's team prompted widespread praise on social media, with ESPN even crowning her "the queen of clap backs." But Twitter users turned on Reese, a Black woman, labeling her hand motion as "classless." MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann went so far to call her a "fucking idiot," though he later (kind-of?) apologized.

"All year I was critiqued about who I was," Reese told press after the game, per CBS. "I don't fit the narrative. I don't fit in a box that y'all want me to be in. I'm too hood. I'm too ghetto. Y'all told me that all year. But when other people do it, y'all say nothing."

Reese ultimately refused to give in to the outrage and called out her critics on their hypocrisy.

"This was for the girls that look like me, that's going to speak up on what they believe in. It's unapologetically you. That's what I did it for tonight," she said. "It was bigger than me tonight. It was bigger than me. Twitter is going to go on a rage every time, and I'm happy. I feel like I've helped grow women's basketball this year. I'm super happy and excited. So I'm looking forward to celebrating in the next season."

She later doubled down on her hand gesture, tweeting a screenshot of the moment she flashed her hand over her face at Clark.

As for Clark, the Iowa player casually dismissed the backlash against Reese in a post-match press conference.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I was just trying to get the handshake line and shake hands and be grateful that my team was in that position," she said, adding, "That's all you can do is hold your head high, be proud of what you did, and all the credit in the world to LSU. They were tremendous. They deserve it."

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