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By Michael Gallagher
Sports Content Coordinator
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The incident that happened over the weekend between Chicago Sky forward DiJonai Carrington and Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham still has fans talking days later.
During the Fever’s 90-86 win over the Sky on Saturday, Carrington was ejected in the first half after striking Cunningham in the face as she attempted a layup. A flagrant foul was assessed, leading to Carrington’s dismissal — but the drama didn’t stop there.
Moments later in the locker room, Carrington posted “White privilege @indianafever” on Threads, seemingly hinting that she was only ejected because of the color of her skin.
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Cunningham clapped back at the implied racial component of what happened after the game.
“This has nothing to do with race,” Cunningham said after the game, via ESPN’s Kareem Copeland. “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.”
Several fans spoke out on social media in support of Cunningham, as did some high-profile sports media personalities like Riley Gaines of Fox News. In fact, Gaines went as far as to call for Carrington to be suspended for her actions.
“She knows the WNBA won’t do a single thing of significance about it,” Gaines said. “Imagine if the roles were reversed — if Sophie made a comment similar to this — then she likely would never play again.
“And actually, we just saw this from coach Sandy Brondello — she got disciplined for making, I believe, a pretty innocent, maybe off-hand comment talking about Angel Reese and saying she’s a protected species. She was suspended and disciplined, and I think if that’s the standard, then I think DiJonai should be [suspended] too.”
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The WNBA doesn’t have a specific policy that governs or restricts what a player can or can’t post on social media; however, it does have a “No Space for Hate” initiative, which uses AI technology to monitor posts concerning players, coaches, and fans.
Posts such as Carrington’s would seem to be subject to the league’s digital community guidelines, which specifically condemn “posts that contain abusive, sexist, racist, homophobic, offensive or obscene remarks, gestures, symbols, or images.”
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