DiJonai Carrington responds to Emmanuel Acho’s criticism of ‘white privilege’ post

DiJonai Carrington of the Chicago Sky traded posts on social media with former NFL player and current commentator Emmanuel Acho on Monday after she was ejected from Saturday’s WNBA game against the Indiana Fever.

Carrington committed a hard foul against Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, and after a review, was assessed with a Flagrant 2 and ejected from the game. Shortly after she was off the court, a post that read “WHITE PRIVILEGE @indianafever” was sent out from one of her social media accounts.

Acho offered his take on the situation on his podcast Speakeasy on Sunday night: “If we are paying attention to what DiJonai Carrington did to Sophie Cunningham, it was not a race-based decision, and to call that a white-privileged-based foul is to completely undermine the term of white privilege and also completely ignore the rules in basketball.”

While Acho was one of many commentators to weigh in on Carrington’s foul, his comments stand out because they prompted a response from Carrington herself.

“I’ve never once claimed that the assessment of the foul was white privilege (that was your assumption),” Carrington posted in response to Acho. “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.”

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

For the curious: Carrington has bachelor’s degrees from Stanford in both Psychology and African and African American Studies from her time at Stanford. Acho has a bachelor’s degree in sports management and a master’s degree in sports psychology, both from the University of Texas.

Degrees aside, it sounds like Acho and Carrington agree on not wanting to undermine the term white privilege.

Acho responded by saying, “I stand corrected,” but also criticized Carrington for not being clear enough in her message. “America is a speaker oriented country, so the burden is on you for being clear, direct and easy to understand,” he wrote.

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.

But if the two things are somehow not… https://t.co/WkBs0caw1R

— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) August 10, 2026

Acho expanded on his criticism further in another post.

Respectfully, the problem with Dijonai’s tweet is nothing about it was clear.

If we’re ignoring the obvious context of her ejection, “White privilege” becomes an explosive accusation with no context. White privilege is a real thing, it’s not a claim you can ambiguously make.… https://t.co/QlO2O60cAX

— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) August 10, 2026

Carrington has yet to comment much on the matter aside from her response to Acho, but with the Sky back in action on Monday night and another game against the Fever due in just two weeks, chances are more questions are coming soon.