The gloves came off during a recent episode of The Joe Budden Podcast, where former NFL star and ESPN analyst Ryan Clark joined the crew and addressed his ongoing feud with colleague Robert Griffin III (RG3). The tension, sparked by RG3’s take on Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark’s on-court dynamic, turned personal fast—with Clark unloading years of frustration and calling his fellow analyst a “phony,” a “bad teammate,” and someone who’s lost touch with the Black community.
It all stemmed from RG3’s commentary on a women’s college basketball game, in which he claimed Angel Reese “hates” Caitlin Clark—citing what he said were multiple examples of personal animosity. His take didn’t sit well with Clark, who felt RG3’s comments were tone-deaf and reinforced unfair narratives around young Black women like Reese, who’s often villainized in contrast to Clark’s media-friendly image.
Clark used his appearance on the podcast not just to respond—but to unload. He openly questioned RG3’s credibility and authenticity, telling Budden and the crew that RG3’s views on Reese were symptomatic of a broader pattern: “He’s always trying to sound like he gets it—but he doesn’t. He’s a phony.”
Clark didn’t just question RG3’s analysis—he went personal. He said that during their time working together at ESPN, RG3 was consistently self-serving and untrustworthy, painting him as a bad teammate. According to Clark, RG3’s public persona doesn’t line up with who he really is behind the scenes.
One of Clark’s sharpest critics was aimed at RG3’s perceived disconnect from Black women. He implied that RG3, who is married to a white woman, lacked the cultural proximity to fully grasp the nuance behind how Black women like Angel Reese express emotion and navigate public scrutiny.
Clark claimed that RG3 often fetishized whiteness—saying things like “I love milk” and regularly highlighting his wife’s race online—and that this dynamic added to the alienation many Black women feel when Black men not only date outside the race, but also seem to center whiteness in their public identity.
“I got no issue with interracial marriage,” Clark said. “But don’t turn around and try to speak for us—especially when you make jokes that fetishize white women and erase Black women in the process.”
Joe Budden and the crew gave Clark the floor, but they didn’t hold back either. Ice initially challenged the notion that someone’s partner defines their cultural credibility, saying, “You don’t need to sleep next to a Black woman to understand Black women—you might have Black sisters, a Black mom.”
Still, once Clark laid out the history—and his personal interactions with RG3—the crew shifted. Joe emphasized that the issue wasn’t just RG3’s marriage but a pattern of behavior that often comes off as performative, tone-deaf, or disconnected from the culture he’s commenting on.
“Being married to a white woman isn’t the problem,” Joe said. “It’s how you show up, what you say, and how often you seem to center whiteness over Blackness.”
Ryan Clark didn’t hold back—and the Joe Budden Podcast let him cook. What started as a disagreement over a basketball take evolved into a layered conversation about authenticity, race, and public responsibility. For Clark, the message was clear: RG3 can say what he wants—but he doesn’t get to speak for the community he no longer understands.
