Former U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) soccer star Megan Rapinoe has accused longtime USA Today writer Christine Brennan of racism for asking Connecticut Sun forward DiJonai Carrington whether her eye poke of Caitlin Clark was intentional.

Carrington poked Clark in the eye, resulting in a black eye, during Game 1 of Connecticut’s series against the Fever on September 22.

As the video shows, Carrington’s hand goes from the palm skyward with her fingers extended to suddenly facing downward, with her fingernails going directly into Clark’s eye socket.

Before Game 2, Brennan asked Carrington after the game if the eye poke was intentional. Carrington denied even realizing she poked her in the eye, much less doing it deliberately.

However, despite the footage showing what appears to be a deliberate eye poke from Carrington, Rapinoe recoiled at even asking Carrington a question about it. Instead, she accused Brennan of racism and trying to protect Clark because she’s white.

“Hearing it initially, my visceral reaction was, ‘That’s not good, that doesn’t feel good, that feels racist, to be honest,” Rapinoe said on her podcast, A Touch More with Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird. “That feels like you’re putting DiJonai in an impossible situation.”

Rapinoe continued, “I think it is so disingenuous for Christine Brennan and other media members to say, ‘I’m just asking the question,’ but really what’s happening is your natural instinct to protect and narrate White players vs. go after and narrate Black players, that to me is really the issue.”