Doyel's interactions with Clark drew ire last month on social media
OutKick's Dan Dakich responds to columnist's discipline after odd Caitlin Clark interactions
OutKick's Dan Dakich talks Indy Star Gregg Doyel getting taken off the Indiana Fever beat for the rest of the WNBA season.
Indy Star columnist Gregg Doyel was removed from covering Indiana Fever games for the rest of the season on Tuesday after odd interactions with Caitlin Clark.
OutKick host Dan Dakich wondered Wednesday on his show "Don’t @ Me" what it would take for Doyel to actually get fired from the job. Dakich praised Clark for handling the entire situation in the way that she did, but he wondered what the newspaper was actually doing in his case.
"He’s so creepy, you can’t have him around a women’s basketball team, yet that’s not enough to be fired," Dakich said. "What’s enough to be fired? If that ain’t enough to be fired, you tell me what is enough to be fired. That’s where we’re at here in Indy."
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Dan Dakich, left, sounded off on Gregg Doyel. (Getty Images | IMAGN)
After Doyel was criticized on social media for the interaction, Dakich said the issue for him wasn’t the "antics."
"This issue is: Why would a male reporter feel compelled to speak that way to a female athlete? Why is it OK for Caitlin Clark or any female athlete to be spoken to like that? Creepy, condescending voice, putting some type of relationship in it. … And other reporters laughed along," Dakich said in April.
"What makes Doyel and the others bring that into the room? That is the bigger issue. And it ain’t going away."
Gannett told Fox News Digital that Doyel was off Fever games. Veteran sports writer Bob Kravitz first reported that the columnist received a two-week suspension.
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Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever takes a breath during the preseason game against the Dallas Wings at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, on May 3, 2024. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
"Indianapolis Star sports columnist Gregg Doyel will not be covering the Indiana Fever," Indy Star spokesperson Lark-Marie Anton told Fox News Digital.
Doyel didn’t disperse any information to Kravitz about his reporting but said he was "choosing to lay low and prepare for a trip to visit his son." He was reportedly expected to return this coming Monday.
Doyel last wrote about the Indianapolis Colts on April 29.
Doyel took a lot of heat on social media for his bizarre interaction with Clark. Before he asked her a question at her welcoming press conference, Doyel formed a heart symbol with his hands for Clark.
Clark asked Doyel whether he liked that, and he responded, "I like that you’re here."
Clark said she makes the gesture with her hands to her family "after every game."
"Start doing it to me, and we’ll get along," Doyel responded.
While talking to Fever head coach Christie Sides, he referred to Clark as "that" and "it."
Gregg Doyel (Robert Scheer/IndyStar/USA TODAY NETWORK)
Doyel later apologized.
"Today in my uniquely oafish way, while welcoming @CaitlinClark22 to Indy, I formed my hands into her signature (hand heart emoji)," he wrote on X. "My comment afterward was clumsy and awkward. I sincerely apologize. Please know my heart (literally and figuratively) was well-intentioned. I will do better."
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Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.
