WNBA star DiJonai Carrington has sparked outrage for wearing a ‘f*** Donald Trump‘ hoodie to an Unrivaled basketball game and sharing the pictures on her X account.
The 27-year-old reposted the pictures on Friday and wrote the caption: ‘What my hoodie says.’
The hoodie is a piece of merch from the rapper YG, who in 2016 played shows all across the United States on a tour called ‘F*** Donald Trump’.
Carrington was met with more criticism than support in response to her post on X, with plenty of people mocking her and saying her post was attention seeking.
‘Can’t tell, does it say “Notice me”?’ one fan said in response, while another wrote: ‘Read the room, this doesn’t have the impact it once did’.
A different reply said: ‘Haha, the WNBA has become unwatchable. Hopefully Taylor Swift and Caitlin Clark can salvage it but who knows.’
WNBA star DiJonai Carrington wore an anti-Donald Trump hoodie to Unrivaled recently
Fans were not impressed by DiJonai Carrington’s anti-Donald Trump message
Unrivaled has been contacted for comment over Carrington’s choice of clothing. The league often posts pictures of the players arriving on social media but did not appear to post images of Carrington when she wore the hoodie.
The NFL, in comparison, has banned players from making political statements and even sent a reminder to players after Trump won the election back in November. San Francisco 49ers player Nick Bosa was fined $11,255 in November for wearing a MAGA cap after his team beat the Dallas Cowboys in late October.
Carrington, who plays in the WNBA for Connecticut Sun, was embroiled in controversy involving Caitlin Clark last season after she poked her in the eye during a the playoffs against Indiana Fever.
Clark had a small amount of bruising from the incident but laughed it off, while Carrington was furious at being asked by USA Today reporter Christine Brennan if the foul was intentional.
‘I don’t even know why I would intend to hit anybody in the eye,’ Carrington said back to her.
‘That doesn’t even make sense to me. But no, I didn’t. I didn’t know I hit her, actually. I was trying to make a play on the ball, and I guess I followed through and I hit her.
‘Obviously it’s never intentional. That’s not even the type of player that I am.’
Clark, for her part, never suggested that she thought Carrington set out to hurt her.
‘It wasn’t intentional by any means. Just watch the play,’ she said.
It is unclear if Carrington faces any punishment for her message about President Trump
Carrington was involved in controversy with Caitlin Clark in the last WNBA season
But the question from Brennan sparked a wild backlash from the WNBA Players’ Association, who released an extraordinary statement saying that her question to Carrington was ‘a blatant attempt to bait a professional athlete into participating in a narrative that is false and designed to fuel racist, homophobic and misogynistic vitriol on social media.’
USA Today defended Brennan, answering back with their own statement that said: ‘We reject the notion that the interview perpetuated any narrative other than to get the player’s perspective directly..
‘Christine Brennan is well regarded as an advocate for women and athletes but first and foremost, she’s a journalist.’
Unrivaled, meanwhile, launched last week in Miami with the stars of the WNBA competing against each other in 3×3 games.
But the first round of television viewing figures were underwhelming, with the league struggling to attract a large number of viewers with Clark opting not to play.