Royce White walked into Gainbridge Fieldhouse Friday night in a long blonde wig, and Fever fans lined up to shake his hand for it. Five days earlier in Chicago, another former NBA player tried to walk onto a WNBA court with the same message on his T-shirt and got walked out of Wintrust Arena by security. Of course, there is a lot behind the Enes Kanter Freedom incident; still, White made sure everyone knew the difference in reception.
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“They don’t have hate for black trans lesbians here in Indiana; it’s a beautiful thing. Energy was great, the reception was great,” White said, speaking with OutKick inside the arena after Friday’s game. “That’s really the cool thing is like juxtaposed to what Enes went through… there in Chicago. You know I just had a completely different experience tonight and the people of Indiana were great.”
Kanter Freedom, who had worn a black T-shirt reading “WOMAN noun. adult human female,” was ejected from Wintrust Arena the previous Sunday during a game between the Sky and the Fever. This was after a back-and-forth with Sky guard Natasha Cloud in the third quarter. TV cameras caught Cloud yelling and stepping toward him before Sky teammates pulled her back and security walked Freedom out.
In the days the controversy developed, Freedom was banned from future Sky games, as announced by Chicago Sky owner Michael Alter. He did not stay quiet about it, posting on X that he’d been thrown out “for supporting WOMEN,” and later saying the Sky’s general manager had personally cleared him to attend. A claim the team’s owner and others have denied.
Additionally, Alter claimed that it was Freedom who had provoked Cloud, while the former NBA player has continued to deny any such allegations and even sent a letter to the WNBA commissioner requesting answers to five questions surrounding his ejection.
White, meanwhile, sat through the entire game and posed for photos with fans before Clark and Mitchell combined for 68 points in Indiana’s 111-91 win. Asked by OutKick if anyone should expect “fireworks” with him involved, White said: “I’m just here to spectate. I’m just here to support the WNBA and support the Fever.”
As for what to call him under the wig: “All hail Queen Roysha, the queen has arrived, it’s great to be here… I’m here because Black trans lesbians matter, and we’ve always mattered, we’ve always existed… I’m here to participate and scout some of the competition maybe as well.”
White further acknowledged that the level of acknowledgement at the arena took him by surprise, while taking a direct shot at Chicago.
“You know, of course not, you can’t expect that, it was overwhelming but we’re in a post-political country,” White said. “You know where things move on social media really quick… And it’s just so crazy to me the difference of response here in Indiana versus there in Chicago. But you know one city’s run by people who have common sense and the other one isn’t.”
White and Kanter Freedom both declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft this month, arguing that “identifying” as women makes them eligible under the league’s own rules. White’s declaration arrived in a letter to the league office from his attorney, former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, who has since told the league to preserve its records “in anticipation of litigation.”
The WNBA’s Anti-Hate Task Force, a group of league and team representatives formed last year as part of the league’s anti-hate initiative, met amid the controversy and denounced what it called ‘bad-faith efforts’ to use the issue to demean or marginalize others, adding there were “no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA.”
Days later, league sources told multiple outlets the call had effectively already been made: both men are ineligible. White has said he will still sue if his individual application is formally rejected, ruling or not.
The gap they’re both leaning on exists in the league’s framework. The current CBA, signed in March, states in Article XIII, Section 1(a) that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA,” and stops there, without defining the term any further.
That said, this recent controversy traces back to comments Fever guard Sophie Cunningham made in an ESPN profile last month, saying she wanted to protect “young girls in a locker room” from competing against “biological men,” a stance she later defended as “common sense.” The remarks split the league’s fanbase and have shadowed the Fever since.
Other prominent public figures were also present at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday, including Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and sports advocate Riley Gaines, both of whom have voiced support for Cunningham.