Clout chasing is a heck of a drug and in this high-stakes podcast world, talking heads find a target and lean into it with hopes of inciting a response. When players and talking heads both clout-chase the same subject, it becomes great entertainment for the masses.
Emmanuel Acho Comes For DiJonai Carrington
It just gets to be a bit weird when a retired football player chooses to go after a WNBA player as if he’s really locked into the game, when we know he’s just narrative hunting.
DiJonai Carrington rebounded from her eventful weekend with a career-high 26-point night which quieted some of her haters, and proved she’s definitely in the WNBA for her skills and not to whack your favorite white player over the head on fast breaks.
However, Acho has been on a roll since he called her out for her “white privilege” tweet following her ejection after getting a Flagrant 2 for making contact with the head of Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham.
He came out and blasted her for the remark.
Carrington Strikes Back, Says She Wasn’t Talking About Sophie Cunningham’s “White Privilege”
Carrington later shared Acho’s video in her first statement about the controversial incident, while the Stanford graduate also lectured him on critical thinking skills.
“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”, 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,” Carington’s post said.
However, it’s common sense to believe that if you get ejected from a game and the call is controversial or wrong in your eyes, and you’re so mad that you can’t even respect league protocol and wait until the game is over to post, then it would be reasonable for anyone to think that you’re mad about the ejection. The fact “white privilege” was brought into it makes it easy to tell what Carrington was beefing about.
It was kind of odd when she tried to act as if she wasn’t referring to the situation at hand with Cunninghm.
Fans, Acho Confused As To What Carrington Was Talking About Then
In response, Acho did not let it pass. He continued to tweet six times about Carrington after Dijonai mentioned him. In his second-to-last tweet of the day, he reiterated that she put context to her words because everyone can only assume.
“Dijonai, you can’t act as though you discovered the moon,” said Acho. “You can’t act like you’re the genius in the room and everybody else is idiotic. What I mean by that is that if you’re going to suggest that we going to critically think about a statement, ‘white privilege’, when you ‘at’ the Indiana Fever, you didn’t give us much to critically think about.”
Carrington received a lot of support and backlash from fans who felt she was gaslighting, and others who felt her intentions were clear and now she’s trying to flip the narrative because of the backlash.
Emmanuel kept tweeting about Carrington before finally telling her to stop gaslighting.
“The onus is on you. If you want to tweet out ‘white privilege’ with no context and simply assume that we should try to understand what you’re talking about, you didn’t say much for us to figure out what you’re talking about. So you allowed the whole world to run with it. So many people have asked you, amongst others, ‘Well then, what are you talking about?’ We still have yet to get a response,” he added.
Fans Take Off The Gloves, Want Answers About Definition Of “White Privilege”
“Maybe she will come on your show and tell us exactly what that tweet meant. just refuses to take accountability for an obvious flagrant 2 foul,” one fan commented against Carrington.
“Ohh, so when this daughter of a multimillionaire simply posted “white privilege” after violently assaulting a white girl she doesn’t like, there was a much deeper, profound meaning to it that people just don’t understand? Thanks for being an ally, Karen!,” another fan commented
Some WNBA Fans Defend Carrington Against Emmanuel Acho Attack
Carrington, as intelligent as she is, knew that her comments would stir things ups. While some fans refused to see any legitimacyin her tweet, others claimed to understand.
“You explained yourself perfectly,” one fan said, supporting Carrington. “People took what you said, made their own assumption about what you meant, and then criticized you based on that assumption. I also respect that you recognize the historical and social weight behind the term “white privilege” and aren’t just throwing it around as a buzzword. If someone is going to publicly challenge your argument, they should at least make sure they’re responding to what you actually said first. Context and critical thinking matter.
“exactly. I knew exactly what she meant when I saw her say that. She was not wrong. The internet has taken it, twisted it, and are honestly further proving her point for her,” another supporter added.
To which a Carrington hater replied: “She ran to the locker room and blamed her ejection on white privilege. Because she smashed a white lady in the face and thought it was unfair she had consequences. It doesn’t mean anything else.”
“Wait, did she say what she meant by her “white privilege” tweet then? I did not see that. There is a severe lack of explanation.
WNBA Soap Opera Continues
The WNBA soap opera drama continues, with people trying to get a definition of what “white privilege” actually is and most lashing out against all use of the term. Especially coming from Carrington who has grown up with some economic privilege herself
Conversations of this nature are really too layered for the average basketball fan. The WNBA needs to come up with a way to flip these narratives. But it’s clear that the league and its players are not on the same page. It would also be wise for the players to ignore these provocative podcast comments and focus on the game.
