Charlamagne Tha God Gets ‘Real’ On Caitlin Clark’s Appeal With Bill Maher

Radio host Charlamagne Tha God told Bill Maher on Friday’s Real Time that his appeal is that his audience thinks he’s sincere in his beliefs.

Among his beliefs: that Caitlin Clark’s immediate impact on the WNBA is because – in a league where the majority of women are Black and there’s a large number of gay players – she’s different, and that makes her more of a spectacle, like Tiger Woods in golf or Eminem in hip-hop.

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“Caitlin Clark has the ability to put asses in seats,” Charlamagne said. “There’s been plenty of white women basketball players that aren’t putting asses in seats.”

Still, he acknowledged there’s an inherent unfairness that comes with that. A’ja Wilson of the WNBA Las Vegas Stars has been a top player for several years, a two-time MVP. Yet Clark got a huge deal with Nike in her first year, while most fans have barely heard of Wilson.

“She (Wilson) was a No. 1 draft pick and she didn’t get all of that,” Charlamagne said, and noted her and others’ complaints about that. “When Black women say something, we should listen.”

Asked point-blank if Clark’s success reflects a kind of racism because she’s white, he fell back on his argument that “it’s more of a spectacle and the fact that she’s really, really good.”

Charlamagne has not revealed who he will vote for in the coming presidential election, and Maher couldn’t get him to crack on that during the show, although the guest maintained his criticisms of Donald Trump don’t seem to indicate he’ll be voting for him.

Charlamagne has a new book, Get Honest or Die Lying: Why Small Talk Sucks, which addresses his depression and therapy, the latter of which he said, “Changed my life.”

This week’s panel discussion included Ana Navarro, CNN contributor and co-host of  The View on ABC, and Joel Stein, writer for the weekly column, The End of My Career with Joel Stein on Substack and the author of In Defense of Elitism: Why I’m Better Than You and You are Better Than Someone Who Didn’t Buy This Book.

They talked about the Hunter Biden and Trump trials, the election and immigration, with Navarro saying that the desperation in countries like Nicaragua and Haiti calls for establishing a haven where refugees can flee.

In his “New Rules” editorial, Maher called for the return of the “Trad Dad,” a man not afraid to instill some discipline.

“This Father’s Day, lets give dear old dad the gift of being dear old dad. And also, shut up, he’s trying to watch the game.”

Watch the full editorial above.

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