The Indianapolis Star has suspended sports columnist Gregg Doyel after he went viral for an embarrassing interaction with Caitlin Clark at a press conference.
Doyel is suspended for two weeks, longtime Indianapolis sportswriter Bob Kravitz reported.
As additional punishment, Doyel will not go to Clark’s rookie games this season but will instead cover them for opinion stories by watching them on TV.
The report did not specify if the suspension is paid or unpaid, The New York Post reports.
The Indianapolis Star is owned by USA Today’s parent company, Gannett.
The Indiana Fever selected Clark first overall in the WNBA Draft and on April 17 introduced her to the media.
At the press conference, Doyel made the heart gesture with his hands at Clark, a motion she made toward her family during games while she played college basketball at Iowa.
You can watch the incident in the video above
“You like that?” Clark responded.
“I like that you’re here, I like that you’re here,” Doyel said.
Clark explained that she made the gesture at her family, and Doyel responded, “Start doing it to me and we’ll get along just fine.”
Doyel has not filed a story since a Colts NFL Draft piece on April 29, missing Clark’s preseason debut as well as the Pacers vanquishing the Bucks in the first round of the NBA playoffs and the start of their series against the Knicks.
Shortly after the bizarre interaction with Clark, Doyel wrote an apology column.
“I now realise what I said and how I said it was wrong, wrong, wrong. I mean it was just wrong,” he concluded the column. “Caitlin Clark, I’m so sorry.”
Doyel’s behaviour at the infamous press conference was labelled “gross” by some basketball commentators.
Fellow journalists and media members, including Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, were perturbed by how the columnist conducted himself.
The bizarre scene was lambasted by many on social media, with Portnoy sharing a Barstool blogpost on his X account that called Doyel a “pervert.”
Portnoy wrote out a follow-up post on X to clear up his re-share.
“To clarify I meant to call Gregg Doyle a sexist pervert. Which he is based on his nauseating actions today,” Portnoy wrote on X.
Portnoy wasn’t alone in his assessment of the situation, as CBC Sports senior contributor Shireen Ahmed went as far as to say Doyel should get his credentials taken away.
“Almost every one of my women colleagues & students in sport media and sports journalism are sharing that clip of Gregg Doyel and Caitlin Clark with disgust,” Ahmed wrote on X.
“We are rightly furious and fed up. His creds should be revoked and offered to an unentitled journalist who respects women.”
Katie Mox of CBS Sports, was in the same camp.
“What happened to Caitlin Clark today at her first press conference in Indy was really gross. I hope she gets an apology,” she wrote.
Doyel did not immediately respond to an email from The Post asking if he has any additional comment.
— This story originally appeared on The New York Post and has been republished with permission
