DiJonai Carrington breaks silence on Sophie Cunningham ‘white privilege’ accusations after hard foul
DiJonai Carrington was asked about a recent social media post in which she wrote ‘white privilege’ after receiving a foul.
The Chicago Sky player has also denied that her foul on Sophie Cunningham was intentional.
“It was unfortunate that I made contact with her in the way that I did, but it was never intentional,” she said, per the Chicago Sun-Times. “And, look. It might happen again. That’s just how I play. I’m gonna always go all out. I’m not gonna just let an open layup happen. But like I said, I’m never intending to hurt anybody, regardless of outside noise or whatever the situation may be."
Carrington was called for a flagrant 2 foul after close contact with Indiana Fever’ Cunningham. The call meant Carrington’s game ended early and has since been met with controversy because of her style of play.
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Carrington shared a post on Threads that has seemingly added to the controversy, one that read ‘white privilege’. When asked to elaborate on the post while speaking to the press on Monday, she declined.
She said: “I already spoke with people who potentially will have the agency to create the change that I’m hoping comes about from not just this incident, but ones in the past and that are obviously going to be coming up in the near future, probably.”
Carrington has spoken with the WNBA. She also expressed a desire for greater consistency 'across the board' in how calls are made.
“Whether it’s the foul that I committed, whether it’s the reaction, the retaliation, I would just love it to be consistent across the board regardless of the name on your jersey or your skin color or the score of the game, the stakes, whatever,” she shared. “I would love there to just be consistency when it comes to all of that. I don’t think we’re there yet. That’s something that I’ve talked to the league about as well. I think that will eliminate a lot of the frustrations that we all have.”
Cunningham called the foul 'unnecessary' and criticised the Chicago Sky forward and guard.
Cunningham said she believes Carrington was feeling something and let out her frustrations, telling reporters, per Yahoo!: "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 s*** off. That's fine. I can take it."
The controversy comes amid an intense debate revolving around Cunningham’s comments about trans athletes. She sparked controversy weeks ago after she was quoted by ESPN in a July 21 story as saying she wants to 'protect young girls in a locker room' and that 'they shouldn’t have to go against biological men'.
The matter gained additional traction when Cunningham reiterated her stance a day later.
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert sent a memo to teams regarding the participation of transgender athletes on Friday afternoon amid the debate, The Associated Press reports.
Topics: Sport, Basketball
Greg Harris