Sophie Cunningham speaks on 'white privilege' accusation after flagrant foul
Sophie Cunningham has addressed 'white privilege' off the back of calling out DiJonai Carrington's 'unnecessary' flagrant foul.
Cunningham hasn't ever been one to hold back her thoughts, and has been a ferocious force for Fever on and off the court.
So, when it came to Carrington's ejection the Indiana contest against Chicago Sky just yesterday (August 8), she had a few choice words.
Cunningham and Carrington were the subject of interest after the former was chased by the latter, and struck down to the floor.
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In footage of the event, it can be seen that Carrington connected with Cunningham's face and neck, leading her to fall without properly breaking her landing.
For this, referees dubbed it a flagrant 1 foul before upgrading it to a flagrant 2 after further investigation.
Since then, Cunningham has called the foul 'unnecessary' and hit out at 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."
"Yeah, it's intentional. She wasn't even on the team. She has no reason to be doing any of that. So, good way to get her kicked out," Cunningham said.
"I don't even know her. She wasn't even on the team last year when all that was going on. But I do think when people play the Fever, we're nationally televised, there's a lot of eyes on us and people just want attention. And that's her just trying to get attention," she claimed.
After the altercation, however, Carrington went on to call out 'white privilege' on social media, and even tagged the Fever.
In response, Cunningham said she thinks the 'league is taking care of that', stating the situation 'has nothing to do with race' and echoes a flagrant foul Cunningham was handed the year before.
She said: "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."
Despite believing that Carrington targeted her on purpose with her swipe, Fever coach Stephanie White had a different view.
“It was a hard foul,” White said. “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.”
After Cunningham was knocked down, she was seen getting up immediately, and charging toward Carrington before pushing her and having to be held back by teammates on the court.
“I popped up,” Cunningham said of her retaliation, per AP. “I’m not going to let anyone just do that to me. I think everyone knows that. I think that’s why she did it because she wants attention.”
UNILAD reached out to Chicago Sky for comment.
Britt Jones