Former NFL defensive back Ryan Clark is apologizing to his ex-teammate Robert Griffin III after invoking Griffin’s wife while insulting the quarterback for comments about WNBA star Angel Reese.

Clark took issue with Griffin’s comments about Reese in her ongoing rivalry with Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark – saying that Griffin doesn’t know the struggles of black women because the former Washington Commanders quarterback is married to a white woman.

Clark claimed Griffin ‘is not having conversations at his home about what black women have to endure in this country’ because Griffin’s wife, Estonian heptathlete Grete Griffin, is Caucasian.

Days later, Clark is issuing an apology to the Griffin family for his words and said that he made a mistake involving Grete.

‘Let me say this before getting into reasoning, before getting into thought process: She should not have been brought up in me trying to make a point about how having black women close to you and the things that you learn from them can help you in the way that you approach and speak to and about them,’ Clark said on the latest episode of ‘The Pivot’ podcast that he co-hosts. 

‘She didn’t need to be the illustration of that. I could speak positively about what they are without making the insinuation that it’s something that non-Black women don’t do well. 

ESPN’s Ryan Clark is apologizing to Robert Griffin III and his wife, Grete Griffin, over comments made after Griffin publicly criticized WNBA star Angel Reese last weekend 

With his wife in the background, Griffin took to social media to blast Reese on Sunday morning

Clark rubbished Griffin’s criticism of Angel Reese because he’s married to a white woman

‘I’m doing the exact same thing, or it may have seemed that I did the exact same thing to her, that I’m trying to keep people from doing to Black women. 

‘My thought process was, in seeing certain clips on my algorithm, on my timeline, they do a podcast together. In that podcast, they talk very openly about not being black enough. They talk very openly about biracial kids, what it’s like to not be accepted in the black community. They very rarely talk about black women. 

‘In the video that RG3 posted that, I felt like, mocked Angel Reese, [Grete] was in the background. Did I love the optics of RG3, a black man, attacking and imitating, and what I felt insulting, knocking a black woman as his wife was in the background, almost seemingly as a prop of – and this is my feeling – of what was good, Amen-ing, nodding along and applauding what I felt like was a personal attack? I didn’t. 

‘But that doesn’t mean because I have that feeling about what you do to someone else, that I could do that to you. 

‘To Grete, I was out of line. I was out of bounds. I apologize. To all of the people that don’t like RG’s take or takes or the way that he moves, or even if you just in this conversation, take my side and want to support me, leave his family alone. 

‘It doesn’t take a daily attack on his wife, on his children, to remind him that you think his take, his takes, or whatever it is, is the wrong thing to you. Families should be off limits. I started that by bringing her into it. 

‘I see that no matter what my intent was, the impact was different. If I had to do it all over again, I would do it a different way.’

Clark’s initial video sparked backlash from the Griffin family, with Grete posting a video calling him out.

Clark took the time to apologize to Grete saying he should have never involved her in this

Griffin III’s wife Grete has addressed Clark’s comments about interracial marriage on Tuesday

It also led to criticism from Clark’s co-workers at ESPN, who reportedly wanted the network to ‘punish’ Clark for his comments. 

Griffin himself posted a lengthy response on social media, saying that Clark was ‘personally attacking me and my family’ in a lengthy statement on X.

He added: ‘There’s a line you don’t cross in life and Ryan Clark sprinted past it.

‘Ryan Clark didn’t like my take on Angel Reese hating Caitlin Clark. That’s fine. Disagreement is part of the game. But instead of debating my point, he personally attacked me and my family. That shows how low of person he is. 

‘I gave a sports opinion: I said Angel Reese hates Caitlin Clark, based on repeated, visible actions on the court and in press conferences. I backed it up with five separate examples from the game of basketball because that’s what I do. I analyze sports. I stay in the arena. 

‘Just because Angel Reese is Black doesn’t mean that her game and actions can not be critiqued. A Black man or woman is not restricted from giving a sports opinion on another Black man or woman just because you don’t like it. Everyone can give their opinion on everyone no matter what color they are.’