Double standard: It's only a controversy when Caitlin Clark walks out with Morgan Wallen

ESPN guest writer Jayson Buford went further, calling Clark "uncool" in a Substack post following the appearance.

Inherently scary, huh?

Nearly two days later, similar comments are still surfacing. It's pathetic and desperate. It also reeks of a double standard.

The outrage is, in part, tied to a recording of Wallen using a racial slur in 2021. In reality, though, the backlash reflects the disdain critics like Lathan have for Clark. They want to cast her as a villain in the culture war to satisfy their contempt for a straight woman reaching superstardom in women's basketball.

Wallen is one of the country's biggest musical stars. When given the chance, few people would turn down the opportunity to walk out with him during a concert, including most athletes, both Black and White. Patrick Mahomes, Myles Garrett, Marshawn Lynch and Mike Tyson have all done so during Wallen's tour. Yet there was no such outrage when they did it.

We also can't help but notice the lack of fury from the hall monitors of morality when players and coaches have embraced other musicians, those with darker pasts than Wallen.

Put bluntly, Clark's detractors are not serious people. They are bitter grifters trying to appeal to racially charged corners of the internet.

Caitlin Clark has done nothing in her career to insert herself into discussions about racism. The reality is that some Black players and media members cannot accept that she is the most popular woman in basketball, and so they project their own racism onto her.

The response to her walking out with Morgan Wallen was just another excuse to try to vilify her along racial lines.