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DiJonai Carrington is pushing back on the idea that her “WHITE PRIVILEGE” post had anything to do with getting tossed from a game for hitting Sophie Cunningham in the head. The Chicago Sky forward’s comment has kept this story alive for nearly three weeks now.
The whole thing started on August 8, when Carrington caught a Flagrant 2 foul and an ejection during Chicago’s matchup with the Indiana Fever. She’d clipped Cunningham in the head while the Fever guard was going up for a fast-break layup.
Carrington didn’t wait long to respond. Minutes after leaving the court, she posted “WHITE PRIVILEGE” on Threads and tagged the Fever directly. That’s the kind of post that pretty much writes its own headline — and plenty of people assumed she was talking about the foul call itself.
Carrington Says That’s Not What She Meant
Except that’s not what happened, according to Carrington.
She’s since walked back that interpretation entirely, responding directly to a video from Emmanuel Acho that touched on the incident.
“I’ve never once claimed that the assessment of the foul was white privilege (that was your assumption). Try exercising your critical thinking skills, I know you studied psych,” Carrington wrote.
She didn’t stop there, either.
“Furthermore, I’m the LAST thing from ignorant or asinine when it comes to speaking on ‘white privilege’, do ya research on that one. 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.”
I’ve never once claimed that the assessment of the foul was white privilege (that was your assumption). 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”,… https://t.co/mykXGTtiXJ
— dιjonaι carrιngтon♛ (@DijonaiVictoria) August 10, 2026
Acho — who probably didn’t mind getting pulled into this — wasn’t ready to just let that slide.
Acho Fires Back
He responded pretty quickly, and he wasn’t backing down from his original read on the situation.
“You are correct, @DijonaiVictoria, my assumption, along with the majority of the sports world, was that you posting ‘white privilege’ immediately following being thrown out of a game for fouling somebody white was regarding the foul,” he wrote.
Then came the part that really landed a punch.
“But if the two things are somehow not connected, that’s on me. I’ll stand corrected. 🙏🏾 However, America is a speaker oriented country, so the burden is on you for being clear, direct and easy to understand.”
It’s a fair point, honestly — if a post lands right after a viral ejection and mentions “white privilege” while tagging the other team, most people are going to connect those dots. Whether that’s fair to Carrington is a separate question.
As for her academic background — Carrington isn’t exaggerating when she says she studied the subject. She graduated from Stanford with degrees in both psychology and African and African American Studies, which does give her post a bit more context than your average heat-of-the-moment social media reaction. She played one season at Baylor after Stanford before Connecticut drafted her 20th overall in the 2021 WNBA Draft.
Whether that educational background changes how people read her original post is up for debate. The internet, as usual, has already made up its mind either way.
