Kelsey Plum won’t be quitting her day job to become a comedian.
The WNBA star admitted recently that she messed up when she attempted to jokingly zing Caitlin Clark and her “Team Clark” members for missing a meeting to discuss wearing the viral “Pay us what you owe us” shirts at the All-Star Game in July.
“Oh, I made a bad joke. I made a really bad joke,” Plum said with a laugh on “Bird’s Eye View” podcast. “Tough one.”
Plum made headlines during this year’s All-Star festivities when she made a seemingly random dig at Clark and others.
This year’s game featured Team Clark, headlined by Clark, versus Team Collier, led by Napheesa Collier and featuring Plum.
WNBA All-Stars wore those inscribed shirts while they aim to improve their pay in the next collective bargaining agreement, and fans chanted “pay them” after the game.
“It was a very powerful moment. As players, we didn’t know that that was going to happen. I think it was kind of like a genuine surprise,” Plum, who plays for the Sparks, said after the game.
“The T-shirt, just united front, was determined this morning that we had a meeting for. Not to tattletale, but zero members of Team Clark were very present for that.”
Plum laughed while she said the “very present” line, and Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu shook her head next to her and jokingly chided her.
“Not needed to be mentioned,” Ionescu said.
Plum responded: “I’m trying to make the situation light, OK.”
A little more than a month later, Plum recognized she had misjudged the situation.
“I should have, hindsight 20/20, because of the shirts, because of the fans, like I should have known it was a way more serious moment than a typical All-Star Game,” Plum said.
“Because I went into that press conference very happy-go-lucky, we won. Had a great weekend, like my family’s here, it was just a great time.
Plum revealed that her joke attempted to make fun of Team Clark for allegedly being hungover that morning.
“The questions came in, and it was like, ‘CBA, this, this, this, this.’ I honestly Birdie, was like, ‘Hey, Team Clark, they didn’t make it to the meeting either,’ making a joke, trying to make the room lighter,” Plum said. “I was making a joke that they were hungover, even though our team nickname was ‘Hungover.’ So it was like, ‘At least we made it (to the meeting).’ Obviously, we’re all on the same page, we all wore the shirts, we’re all unified. And I think, if anything, I was just more discouraged because I felt like it took away from the moment of what we were trying to do.”
The discourse about her comments did not paint Plum in a favorable light, but she acknowledged it would have been tough for her to respond.
“You don’t even get to respond, and if you do you seem defensive. That’s why I didn’t even say anything,” Plum said. “So, you just have to let it go. Thick skin”
Plum, 30, is averaging 20.3 points and 6.1 assists per game for the Sparks, who are in ninth place in the league with a 16-17 record.
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