One of the nation’s top sports chronicles, Sports Illustrated, is under fire for pushing out a headline insisting that WNBA star Sophie Cunningham deserved to be bashed in the face on the court because of her support of women-only sports.
The outrageous SI headline came after Cunningham suffered a fragrant clothesline foul on Saturday when Chicago Sky player DiJonai Carrington smacked Cunningham in the face while attempting to block Cunningham’s shot.
Carrington was handed a flagrant foul for sending the Indiana Fever’s Cunningham smashing to the floor during her successful layup in the first quarter of Saturday’s game.
In reply to the incident, the magazine pushed out a story headlined, “Sophie Cunningham Got a Bitter Taste of Karma after Drawing Flagrant Foul in Fever-Sky.”
The headline says straight-out that Cunningham earned deserved “karma” because she opposes men who claim to be women playing in women’s sports. The Indiana Fever star had expressed her opinion in an interview with ESPN at the end of July.
The headline and accompanying story by writer Kristen Wong were immediately lambasted by furious Cunningham’s fans.
Hours later, the magazine quietly changed its absurd headline to read, “Sophie Cunningham’s Enforcer Role Gets Reversed Onto Her With Hard Foul in Fever-Sky,” Fox News reported.
The disgusting foul on Cunningham sparked a lot of Internet chatter, and even earned a rebuke from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier who noted that he would prosecute such a crime.
But fans were also outraged by Sports Illustrated’s horrid treatment of the story.
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