Emmanuel Acho is responding after being dragged for his hot take on Angel Reese’s high emotions during a post-game interview.
The Root reports that Fox Sports 1 commentator Emmanuel Acho criticized Reese for expressing how she’s been attacked.
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As previously reported, Angel’s teammate Flau’jae defended her during a press conference after LSU’s loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Reese became emotional and shared that she’s “been through so much” and hasn’t “had peace” since she won the national championship last year.
“I’ve been attacked so many times, death threats, I’ve been sexualized, I’ve been threatened, I’ve been so many things, and I’ve stood strong every single time,” Reese said.
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Emmanuel Criticized Angel For Crying
During Emmanuel Acho’s sports show ‘Speak’ he stated he would give a “gender-neutral, racially indifferent take” before slamming Reese for shedding tears during the conference.
“Angel Reese, you can’t be the big bad wolf but then kinda cry like ‘Courage the Cowardly Dog,’” he said. “When you take an ‘L’ you just gotta take it on the chin.”
Acho continued, “Nobody mourns when the villain catches an ‘L.’ And Angel Reese you have self-proclaimed to be the villain.”
Taylor Rooks’ Take
The commenter claimed Angel went to the podium to “ask for sympathy,” but many disagreed with his stance, including Taylor Rooks. Vibe reports that the sports journalist tweeted:
“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,” she began a lengthy tweet. “You have to ask why Angel became the villain. You have to ask why her role as ‘villain” has not allowed her to also be human.”
Rooks agreed she doesn’t deserve sympathy for losing, but there is no excuse for the hate she’s received outside of the court.
“She certainly does not deserve sympathy for losing a game. She deserves sympathy for being attacked and targeted for things outside of said game,” Taylor tweeted.
Emmanuel Reponds to The Backlash
Additionally, social media is dragging Acho around the world. He responded in a series of tweets and a video response.
Emmanuel took to X, formerly known as Twitter, on April 3 to say, “Please know, I always speak out on racial & gender bias. One of the few on TV to speak on it. I have also consistently supported Angel through it.”
“The job is to be an analyst, not a fan. Which means your opinions must shift as actions shift,” he added in another tweet.
Scroll below to watch what Acho initially said and to see his responses via X, as well as social media backlash.
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Additionally, Echo released a video on Thursday, April 4, thanking those who “respectfully reprimanded me.”
“I want to applaud those publicly and privately who have respectfully reprimanded me,” he stated. “…I simply stand on a place saying, ‘Hey, this is what I believe. What do you believe?’ Let’s listen to one another and construct collective beliefs.”
