After being ejected for committing a hard foul on the Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham on Saturday in Chicago, Sky guard DiJonai Carrington took to social media to insinuate her ejection had something to do with race.
Shortly after the ejection, reportedly while she was still in the locker room, Carrington posted this message — WHITE PRIVILEGE @indianafever — on her Threads account.
Late in the opening quarter, Cunningham was on a breakaway and attempting a right-handed layup when Carrington chased her down and fouled Cunningham across the left side of the head with her left arm and knocked her to the ground. Cunningham got to her feet immediately and the players went face-to-face before being separated by teammates.
The play was reviewed and upgraded to a Flagrant 2 foul on Carrington, which carries an automatic ejection.
After the game, a 90-86 Fever win, Cunningham told reporters, “Clearly, I think it was like unnecessary. I’ve never really spoken to her and have no beef with her, but I guess she has some pent-up stuff. So, get your (stuff) off. That’s fine. I can take it.”
Fever coach Stephanie White offered a different perspective, saying, “It was a hard foul. I don’t think that Dijonai intentionally came out to get her across the neck like she did, but it did happen, and I thought it was the right call.”
Carrington declined to comment after the game. When told of Carrington’s social media post, Cunningham said, “I think the league is taking care of that.
“This has nothing to do with race. Last year, I did the same thing and I got kicked out. And I deserved to be kicked out. There’s no reason even to play that card.”
Officiating crew chief Maj Forsberg said after the game that Cunningham was not penalized for her reaction because “we deemed her reaction to the severity of the contact to be acceptable.”
When told of Carrington’s post, Sky coach Tyler Marsh said, “I have to get back to you on that because I’m just now hearing about that. So yeah, we’ll handle that.”
Cunningham has been no stranger to controversy in recent weeks.
In an interview published in July by ESPN, Cunningham weighed in about women’s sports, emphasizing girls should never have to compete against “biological men.”
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans,” Cunningham told ESPN. “And I’m like, ‘I never once said that.’
“I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
In the weeks since, people both expressing support for Cunningham and protesting her comments have shown up inside and outside of Fever games.
Late last month, the Seattle Storm issued an apology after one of their co-owners verbally accosted two teenage female fans with expletives because they were holding signs supporting Cunningham’s views during a home game against the Fever.
On Saturday, Cunningham scored three points in 17 minutes – all three points coming on Carrington’s flagrant foul. Carrington also came off the bench and provided eight points in four minutes before being ejected with 1:59 left in the first quarter.
–Field Level Media
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