Move over, Scandoval. Women’s basketball has all the drama now.
On Sunday, April 2, Louisiana State University beat the University of Iowa in the NCAA women’s basketball final. The tense game included a little back-and-forth between opposing players Angel Reese, an LSU forward, and Caitlin Clark, an Iowa forward. But the lighthearted rivalry took a turn for the dramatic when clips of Reese’s hand gestures (apparently borrowed from John Cena’s pro-wrestling days) went viral.
With less than a minute remaining in the game, Reese celebrated her team’s apparent victory with Cena’s “You Can’t See Me” move (waving her palm in front of her face). She also tapped her ring finger—soon to be wearing a national champion ring—while looking Clark’s direction.
After the moment went viral, Reese, who is Black, was criticized for making the gesture. Per NPR, the word “classless” trended on Twitter. However, Clark, who is white, performed the same John Cena-inspired gesture in a game during the Elite Eight, which you can see here. When Clark did it, she was praised largely praised, or simply ignored. The only difference between Reese and Clark’s gestures is that Reese pointed at her ring finger, given that she was about to win the championship.
Cena has been performing the gesture since the early 2000s for the WWE. “You Can’t See Me” is meant to indicate that Cena is too fast for his opponents to see him coming. Cena credits rapper and G-Unit member Tony Yayo with doing the move first, per NPR, in the music video for “So Seductive” with 50 Cent.
After the game, both players addressed their rivalry and the discourse.
“Caitlin Clark is a hell of a player for sure, but I don’t take disrespect lightly,” Reese told ESPN. Reese said that she felt like Clark disrespected other players on her team as well as players for the University of South Carolina, who faced off against Clark in the Elite Eight where she first made the gesture. “I was in my bag,” Reese said. “I was in my moment. Yeah.” Reese later posted on Twitter, “I LOVE BEING A BLACK QUEEN.”
