The recent beef between Emmanuel Acho and former LSU running back Leonard Fournette has taken a more personal turn. There won’t be a boxing ring between the two anytime soon, but the fight isn’t simmering down on either side. Acho has now thrown a direct verbal jab at Fournette’s ‘clickbaity’ insults.
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“Because the big thing that Leonard kept saying was clickbait, clickbait, clickbait,” Acho said on the Speakesy Podcast on September 22. “Then it dawned on me: Leonard has to say my name to bait people to click. I did some digging, as I had some time today. I went on 4th and South. So, I was like, I wonder how many people click on their show.”
“So as I went to their channel, I said, ‘Wait a second. Emanuel Acho, 9,900 views. I’m their most-watched video in the last two and a half weeks. And it’s only been 11 hours. So speaking of clickbait, Leonard Fournette quite literally needed me to get people to click. I was the bait. So you can’t accuse me of clickbaiting while simultaneously using me as bait to get people to click. If you’ve got to use me to get clicks and get views, by all means, I’m not even going to charge you, bro. I’m not even going to tax you.”
On the surface, Acho is not making any false claims. The video on 4th and South, with his name in the title, gained 18k views in 23 hours. The other videos on the podcast max out at 4.5k views. However, Fournette’s original point wasn’t about the number of views they have on their channels.
Moreover, Acho is on shaky grounds here. He has been called out by the likes of Asante Samuel and Cam Newton for not building his YouTube channel from scratch. Instead, he rebranded an existing channel tied to Fox Sports, which already had 2.6 million subscribers. In his defense, Acho has maintained that he inherited the channel as part of his exit settlement.
Secondly, Acho’s comments also do not highlight the problematic stance pointed out by Fournette. The two have a history of feuding. The latest chapter began after Week 2 of NFL games, following a segment on the Speakeasy podcast.
Acho criticized Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams’ reaction to his injury during the game against the Vikings. The former NFL player said that he wasn’t a big fan of Williams’ emotional reaction of crying and a fist bump while being carted off the field for a hamstring injury. Acho said such a reaction should be reserved for season-ending or career-ending injuries.
However, at the time of Williams’s reaction, he didn’t know the extent of his injury. In hindsight, it may seem like an overreaction. Acho’s words caught the attention of Leonard Fournette, who accused the former of using “clickbait” tactics to tear down young players for views.
Fournette escalated the situation by straight-up challenging Acho to a boxing match. He said that he wanted to “DDT the [bleep] out of Acho.” The former Tiger even said that Acho shouldn’t be given the mic, as he tarnishes the reputation of young players trying to find their footing.
While there are still two sides to the debate over whether Williams should have reacted differently, there is some truth to what Fournette is saying. Acho had no way of knowing what Williams was thinking. Rather than being considerate of a young player, he fed into the ‘soft’ narrative circulating online.
The previous clash between Emmanuel Acho and Leonard Fournette
It’s not the first time these two have found themselves in a feud this year. In March, before their physical fight challenge, they had previously feuded over NFL credentials, player-resume disrespect, and coaching takes. The original argument stemmed from a disagreement over head coach Kevin Stefanski.
On the 4th and South podcast, Fournette pulled up Acho’s career statistics to discredit him as an analyst. He pointed out that Acho only recorded 33 tackles and 2 starts in his career. Fournette further commented, “Out of all the NFL analysts they have, he has the weakest resume… Emmanuel was a–. Period.”
Acho responded on Speakeasy by admitting he was a backup but immediately turned the tables on Fournette’s legacy. Acho argued that relative to draft capital, they both had disappointing careers. He clapped back that Fournette was out of the league, holding a microphone despite being a top-5 draft pick.
“In my world, Leonard Fournette, you have no hardware. That Super Bowl ring doesn’t mean anything in my world,” Acho said.
Even back then, Acho was called out for his comments. How are you going to discount a Super Bowl ring? Fournette had 448 scrimmage yards and four touchdowns during Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl run. Even in the current feud, Fournette seems to be drawing more support from fellow veterans.