The Chicago Sky star spoke out for the first time after the incident, for which she was ejected from the game
Credit: Jayden Mack/Getty; Christian Petersen/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- DiJonai Carrington is speaking out about her hard foul on Sophie Cunningham
- The Chicago Sky player was ejected from the Aug. 8 game against the Indiana Fever after the play
- Carrington later posted the words “WHITE PRIVILEGE” on Threads and pointedly tagged the Fever
DiJonai Carrington is addressing her viral comment about white privilege after her foul on Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham.
The Chicago Sky star, 28, spoke out for the first time since the hard foul, after which she was ejected from the Saturday, Aug. 8, game and later posted on Threads the words “WHITE PRIVILEGE,” tagging the Indiana Fever.
“I’ve never once claimed that the assessment of the foul was white privilege,” Carrington wrote on X, reposting a clip of former NFL star Emmanuel Acho discussing her response. “Try exercising your critical thinking skills, I know you studied psych. Furthermore, I’m the LAST thing from ignorant or asinine when it comes to speaking on ‘white privilege’, do ya research on that one.”
The Stanford product added, “I actually went to school, one of the top universities, might I add, to educate myself on this exact subject. I would never use that term as a rhetorical weapon knowing the historical and social weight it holds without having the proper evidence to substantiate it.”
Carrington’s comments came two days after she was cited for a flagrant two foul on Cunningham after the latter tried to score on a breakaway play during their game.
Cunningham, 29, hit the floor hard after Carrington’s arm connected with her head and jaw.
Credit: Michael Reaves/Getty
The Fever backup guard then bounced up and went after Carrington as their teammates tried to separate the players. Carrington was sent to the locker room.
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Later, Cunningham downplayed any racial bias — “there’s no reason to even play that card” — and called Carrington’s hard foul “her just trying to get attention.”
Fever head coach, Stephanie White, downplayed the scary collision.
“One of the things about [Carrington] is that she’s gonna play her butt off, man,” White later told reporters. “She’s gonna compete. Nobody’s gonna go walking in for a layup. And so, I don’t oppose the hard foul.”
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