Elle Duncan: WNBA Culture Wars Are ‘Open Season’ on Black Women

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Netflix and USA Sports anchor Elle Duncan believes that the WNBA has become a hotbed for culture wars because the league has a “large faction of” Black and queer players.

“It feels like open season to dunk on Black women because we do not have protection. Because no one cares. Because we are low-hanging fruit,” Duncan told Baker Machado at Front Office Sports’s Tuned In summit on Tuesday. “Because it is very easy to dunk on us since we are, I would say, outside of transgender people, the most marginalized of the marginalized groups.”

Duncan called covering the league “toxic as hell,” blaming “opportunists” who want to criticize Black and queer women, while uplifting “one person” who they “see in their own image.” Her sentiment has been a talking point in the WNBA since Caitlin Clark was drafted in 2024 and significantly boosted the league’s popularity, sparking several conversations related to how Clark is discussed in relation to Black and queer players.

Following a playoff series between the Fever and the Connecticut Sun in 2024, former Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington shared an email she received with a racial slur and sexual assault threats, while her then-teammate Alyssa Thomas called out the Fever fans behind the “racial comments” she’s received. Thomas also said in June that she received “threats against her life” after receiving a one-game suspension for a foul on Clark.

“It’s twofold for them—so you get to lift this one person up, and you get to, ultimately, reduce everybody else that isn’t her to nothing,” Duncan said.

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Duncan said that the racism toward Black WNBA players is also directed toward members of the media like herself, and is a representation of what Black women face in society. She said she gets told that she’s a “DEI hire,” a sentiment which she believes minimizes her efforts in her work.

“It’s frustrating to talk about because I know this is going to get clipped. This is going to be me saying goodbye to my mentions for the next couple of days,” Duncan said. “But it’s going to be me lamenting that being a Black woman is so hard, and someone’s going to tweet at me that I work at Netflix and I’m fine and I don’t have any struggles in my life. And it’s just this constant cycle where we’re getting nowhere and no one is listening to anybody.”

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