Sports Illustrated edits Sophie Cunningham 'karma' headline after creating social media firestorm
The hard foul that left Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham with a bloody mouth against the Chicago Sky was a result of karma. At least, that was Sports Illustrated's initial reaction to Chicago's DiJonai Carrington clotheslining Cunningham during a layup attempt.
With two minutes remaining in the first quarter of the Fever's eventual 90-86 win on Saturday night, Carrington delivered a very hard foul on Cunningham underneath the basket. The foul was upgraded to a Flagrant 2, resulting in Carrington's ejection from the contest.
After seeing Carrington swipe her forearm across Cunningham's face at full speed in what certainly did not appear to be an attempt at the basketball, Sports Illustrated opted to publish a story about the moment titled "Sophie Cunningham Got a Bitter Taste of Karma After Drawing Flagrant Foul in Fever-Sky."
The title of the story sparked immediate and intense reaction across social media as Cunningham has dominated headlines for weeks after sharing her opinion that transgender athletes should not be allowed to play in women's sports.
Citing "karma" as the reason behind Cunningham taking a hard foul while she's received constant backlash for stating that men do not belong in women's sports came across, to many, as a pointed effort from Sports Illustrated.
The story, written by breaking news writer Kristen Wong, was later updated with the following title: "Sophie Cunningham's Enforcer Role Gets Reversed Onto Her With Hard Foul in Fever-Sky."
OutKick has reached out to Sports Illustrated requesting comment about the title change of the story.
The Sports Illustrated story claimed that the "karma" Cunningham received on the play stemmed from a hard foul she committed during the 2025 WNBA season, in which she wrapped her arms around Jacy Sheldon while she was attempting a layup. Sheldon played for the Connecticut Sun last season, but is now a member of the Sky.
Cunningham was assessed a Flagrant 2 for her foul on Sheldon and was ejected from the game. When asked about being on the receiving end of Carrington's hard foul and the ejection on Saturday, Cunningham admitted she deserved to be ejected for her foul on Sheldon last season.
"Last year I did the same thing, and I got kicked out, as I deserved to be kicked out. There’s no reason to even play that card," Cunningham told the media.
That "card" Cunningham referred to is in reaction to Carrington posting the words "WHITE PRIVILEGE" and tagging the Fever on her Instagram Threads account shortly after being ejected from Saturday's contest.
"We saw it," Cunningham said, when asked about Carrington's post. "I think the league is taking care of that. I mean, this has nothing to do with race."
WNBA FACES DISCIPLINE DILEMMA AFTER CARRINGTON'S 'WHITE PRIVILEGE' POST TARGETING INDIANA FEVER
Indiana head coach Stephanie White actually went on to defend Carrington during the post-game press conference, but did agree the flagrant foul and ejection were the correct calls.
"Yeah, I mean, look, it was a hard foul. 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. But you know, one of the things about Nay is that she's gonna play her butt off, man. She's gonna compete. Nobody's gonna go walking in for a layup. And so, I don't oppose the hard foul. But I also don't think that she intentionally went for the neck," White said.
White declined to comment on Carrington's "white privilege" post.