Sports Illustrated edits Sophie Cunningham 'karma' headline after creating social media firestorm

Dan Dakich breaks down Megan Rapinoe's latest unhinged rant targeting Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham and OutKick legend Riley Gaines over their stand to protect women's sports.

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."

Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington commits a flagrant 2 foul against Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham. (Kamil Krzaczynski/Imagn Images)

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