ESPN anchor Elle Duncan stands firm after crude WNBA broadcast joke sparks online debate

ESPN anchor Elle Duncan caught some flak for a particularly crude comment during the network’s broadcast of the WNBA All-Star Game. 

It was during halftime when Duncan made her comment regarding the offensive output by both teams. 

“We hope it gets a little bit more competitive,” Duncan said after watching Napheesa Collier’s team put up 82 points to Caitlin Clark’s squad’s 60 in the first half. “Because, like a girls’ trip to Cancun right now, there’s no D.”

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ESPN analyst Chiney Ogwumike quickly said, “Elle, you’re in timeout. You’re done.” Then, the broadcast went to commercial. 

Duncan doesn’t have any regrets about her comments despite the vitriol on social media. During an appearance on “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz,” she defended her comment.

“My thing with the Cancun joke is, I feel like whenever I say something, it’s like sometimes a reintroduction for some people who clearly don’t know me or my work over the last 10 years,” Duncan said, according to Awful Announcing. 

“I’m like, ‘Bro, I said on-air one time that if you celebrate too early, it’s called premature I’m-Jacked-Elation.’ Like, I can’t actually imagine this is worse than that. Like I feel like I constantly have to remind people I have been saying things like this for the 10 years I have been at ESPN.

ESPN HOST’S OFF-COLOR JOKE DURING WNBA ALL-STAR BROADCAST DRAWS MIXED REACTIONS FROM VIEWERS

“So, I thought it was silly. I thought it was funny. Some people disagree. Some people definitely agree. But it is what it is. Like, yes, girls say crude jokes, too.”

Duncan also addressed a specific portion of comments. 

“The funny part to me, y’all, has been the people who are like, ‘What am I supposed to say to my children?'” Duncan added. “I’m like, ‘Well if you have to talk to your children about the fact that ‘D’ is a slang word for a penis, then I hope that I was able to help you have that conversation with your child who’s old enough to watch basketball.’ Because my 4-year-old knows what a penis is.

“It’s so silly to me. The idea that like this is groundbreaking or somehow completely inappropriate in the landscape that we live in right now is just wild to me. I was a little blown, to be real.”

When Duncan’s comment went viral on social media, many were quick to comment with frustration.

“Add this to a long list of why no one takes @WNBA or @espn seriously,” one X user said under a video of Duncan, posted by Awful Announcing. 

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“If Shane Gillis said that, they’d try to cancel him,” another wrote, referencing the comedian’s ESPYs monologue that turned heads this past week. 

When the second half eventually started, there was more offense than defense yet again. Collier led the way with 36 points to help her squad beat Clark’s, 151-131, to win the All-Star Game. 

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