Columnist's Cringey Exchange With Caitlin Clark Leads To Cringey Apologies

Indianapolis Star columnist Gregg Doyel made a heart gesture at Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark on Wednesday at a news conference to begin an icky exchange with the WNBA’s top draft pick.

“You like that?” Clark said, referring to Doyel’s imitation of her signature heart greeting.

“I like that you’re here,” Doyel said.

“I do that with my family after every game,” Clark noted.

“Start doing it to me and we’ll get along just fine,” Doyel replied.

Yikes. Ugh. Sigh.

Clark, who became the NCAA’s all-time scorer at Iowa and was the No. 1 pick Monday night during the WNBA draft, may have just received her first major dose of sexism as a pro.

Doyel issued multiple apologies afterward. On X, formerly Twitter, he called his heart gesture “uniquely oafish” and comment “clumsy and awkward.”

“Please know my heart (literally and figuratively) was well-intentioned. I will do better,” he wrote.

“I’m devastated to realize I’m part of the problem,” he then wrote in a column published later in the day. “I screwed up Wednesday during my first interaction with No. 1 overall draft pick Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever.”

His mea culpa took a questionable turn:

Not helping, dude.

HuffPost reached out to the Indy Star for comment.

Support HuffPost

Our 2024 Coverage Needs You

Your Loyalty Means The World To Us

At HuffPost, we believe that everyone needs high-quality journalism, but we understand that not everyone can afford to pay for expensive news subscriptions. That is why we are committed to providing deeply reported, carefully fact-checked news that is freely accessible to everyone.

Whether you come to HuffPost for updates on the 2024 presidential race, hard-hitting investigations into critical issues facing our country today, or