Fox Sports Analyst Slammed by Colleagues for Angel Reese Take: ‘Harboring a Deep Disdain for Black Women’
Fox Sports analyst Emmanuel Acho is under fire after giving a controversial take on Angel Reese’s emotional post-game press conference.
After LSU’s Elite Eight loss to Iowa on Monday, Reese — who’s eligible for the WNBA Draft — was asked about the journey she’s gone through since winning the national championship last season. The 21-year-old shared a harrowing glimpse of the price of celebrity, revealing she’s endured death threats and being sexualized.
Acho wasn’t moved by Reese’s stories. On Tuesday’s episode of Speak, he encouraged Reese to “take the L” and said that she can’t “act like the big bad wolf, then cry like Courage the Cowardly Dog.”
Online, Acho was called out by countless others in the media industry.
Respectfully, colleague – The disappointing thing about this take is you actually can’t have an informed opinion on this if you are choosing to be gender neutral and racially indifferent. Because that is impossible. Her existence as a black woman shapes both how she is seen by… https://t.co/MCffgUbace
— Taylor Rooks (@TaylorRooks) April 3, 2024
There’s simply no way to have this take without harboring a deep disdain for Black women. Straight up. https://t.co/NbBKCS0rBm
— David Dennis Jr. (@DavidDTSS) April 3, 2024
I think the worst part about this take is it dismisses her feelings and perpetuates and encourages the trolls actions like death threats and sexual harassment
If anything we need to encourage folks to cheer for/root against whoever you want but there’s an ethical line https://t.co/qsLFRgDX7i
— Renee Washington (@ReneePwash) April 3, 2024
A gender neutral, racially indifferent take. Huh? You can’t remove them from their identities.
Not to say Angel Reese is above criticism no one is but the language in this is like a personal attack on a 21-year old who has had to see the ugly side of society with death threats. https://t.co/22ik3dLJy0
— Kelsey Nicole Nelson (KNN) (@therealknelson) April 3, 2024
I’m not understanding what talking shit during a basketball game and rightfully boasting your skills off the court have to do with being sexualized on the internet and people making deepfake porn of you.
I’m not understanding the correlation. https://t.co/nnOwWXQnqq
— [HB] RAINEY™ (@RaineyOvalle) April 3, 2024
In referring to her as “grown” he ironically is revealing the way Black girls and young women are adultified, dehumanized, and held to a different standard regularly. There is no “gender-neutral” or “racially-indifferent” take here about Angel Reese. He’s proving it. https://t.co/VBvo8QOuyd
— Natasha S. Alford (@NatashaSAlford) April 3, 2024
In response to the backlash, Acho claimed he has no problem speaking out against racial and gender bias, but won’t “blindly support anyone.”
Dear level headed friends,
Please know, I always speak out on racial & gender bias. One of the few on TV to speak on it. I have also consistently publicly supported Angel through it.
However, I don’t blindly support anyone. I assess every situation individually and then speak. pic.twitter.com/fNDvQI8vWq
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) April 3, 2024
Watch above via Fox Sports 1.
