A journalist has been forced to apologize for an awkward interaction with Caitlin Clark that prompted an intense social media backlash.
Clark is the undeniable star of women's basketball right now having being selected No.1 overall in this week's WNBA Draft by the Indiana Fever.
4
The former Iowa Hawkeyes sharpshooter held a press conference on Wednesday where she had a cringe-worthy interaction with Indianapolis Star columnist Gregg Doyel.
Doyel started the interaction by making a heart with his hands - a gesture Clark makes to her family at the end of games.
"Real quick, let me do this,” Doyel said before flashing the heart sign at Clark.
"You like that?" Clark responded.
READ MORE BASKETBALL
"I like that you're here," he replied.
"Yeah, I do that at my family after every game," Clark said.
"Start doing it to me and we'll get along just fine," Doyel added as Clark's face said it all.
It didn't take long for people to call out Doyel's comment.
Most read in Basketball
4
4
Some of the comments online included 'weird', 'creepy', and 'inappropriate', and wondered if an NBA star would face the same kind of interaction.
Barstool Sports chief Dave Portnoy was particularly perturbed by the interaction and labelled Doyel a 'pervert'.
College basketball star Caitlin Clark smashed to the ground by Ohio fan storming the court
'Caitlin Clark's Indiana Fever Career Begins With Gregg Doyel being a sexiest pervert at Introductory Press Conference,' Portnoy wrote on X.
"@IndyStarSports do something about this pervert."
"To clarify I meant to call Gregg Doyle a sexist pervert. Which he is based on his nauseating actions today," Portnoy later added.
CBC Sports senior contributor Shireen Ahmed went as far as to say Doyel should get his credentials taken away while Katie Mox of CBS Sports said what Clark experienced was 'really gross'.
Doyel later took to social media to apologize.
"Today in my uniquely oafish way, while welcoming Caitlin Clark to Indy, I formed my hands into her signature [heart hands emoji]," he wrote on X.
"My comment afterward was clumsy and awkward. I sincerely apologize. Please know my heart (literally and figuratively) was well-intentioned. I will do better."
Doyel later shared an article which was titled: 'Caitlin Clark, I'm so sorry. Today I was part of the problem.'
4
Part of it read: "I’m devastated to realize I’m part of the problem. I screwed up Wednesday during my first interaction with No. 1 overall draft pick Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever.
"What happened was the most me thing ever, in one way. I’m sort of known locally, sigh, for having awkward conversations with people before asking brashly conversational questions.
"What I’ve learned is that I need to be more aware about how I talk to people – not just athletes."
He added that he went through 'anger' and 'denial' phases over the situation before realizing he'd been ignorant.
"I was just doing what I do, talking to another athlete, another person, and didn’t see the line – didn’t even know there was a line in the vicinity – until I crossed it.
"In my haste to be clever, to be familiar and welcoming (or so I thought), I offended Caitlin and her family.
"I now realize what I said and how I said it was wrong, wrong, wrong. I mean it was just wrong.
"Caitlin Clark, I’m so sorry."
Clark has become a powerhouse in women's sports over the past few years and is the all-time Division I college basketball scorer in both the men's and women's game.
She was selected by the Fever with the No.1 pick in this year's WNBA Draft and broke jersey sales within the first hour of being selected.
Her measly professional contract has drawn criticisms from fans but now it's been revealed she will make millions in endorsement deals with Nike which includes a signature shoe.
Ticket sales for Fever's home games this season have gone through the roof ahead of Clark's arrival and they will have 36 of their 40 games featured on national television.
Read More on talkSPORT
Clark's first taste of WNBA action will be at the Connecticut Sun on May 14.