Shane Gillis is hosting the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards (ESPYs) 2025, and while the jury is out on whether his opening speech was a hit or miss, the comedian and actor peppered it with jokes.
One such joke was directed toward Caitlin Clarke, the Indiana Fever basketball player who's been grabbing eyeballs.
“When Caitlin Clark retires from the WNBA, she’s going to work at a Waffle House so she can continue doing what she loves most: fist-fighting black women,” he quipped.
Caitlin Clark fight and injury
Gillis' joke comes right after Clark's game against the Connecticut Sun, where she had an explosive blowout with the referee, and also picked up an injury in the final minute of the game. Despite her team managing a victory, a visibly frustrated Clark was seen making her way to the bench.
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{{/usCountry}}Gillis' joke comes right after Clark's game against the Connecticut Sun, where she had an explosive blowout with the referee, and also picked up an injury in the final minute of the game. Despite her team managing a victory, a visibly frustrated Clark was seen making her way to the bench.
Also Read | Saquon Barkley's backwards hurdle against Jaguars wins Best Play at ESPY 2025 - Watch it again
{{/usCountry}}Clark picked up a right groin injury in the game. At the time, her coach had said, “I think we just take it one step at a time,” adding, “We'll get some food and get on the plane and start talking about New York. She's being evaluated; we'll see where we are with that. And certainly, we'll have another evaluation, probably, and conversation in the morning, see where we are. But this group has played without her. At least we've got experience in that. We know that we have a tough opponent in New York. We know that it's going to be a challenge, no matter what, and we've just got to get locked in and ready to compete.”
Shane Gillis at the ESPYS
Clark was not the only target of Gillis' humour as he cracked one about the Jeffrey Epstein list as well, stating that perhaps the joke too never existed – a nod to President Donald Trump's insistence that the files are a Democrat hoax.
While many found Gillis' jokes funny, and felt that his humour was directed at everyone present, others opined on social media that the host was not making a mark with his opening speech, and even went on to say that it was ‘terrible’.