“I am not a provocateur,” exclaimed the 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer Riley Gaines, as she attended the Minnesota Lynx versus Indiana Fever game on August 2. Gaines’s appearance was fresh off Sophie Cunningham’s comments about transgender athletes and their participation in women’s sports. Now, a month later, she is being criticized by fans for her opinion of the game’s environment, which Gaines expressed was quite hostile toward Sophie Cunningham, in an interview with Fox News.
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“I went to the WNBA game in Minneapolis, which, right, you can expect, given how the fan base, as it pertains to the WNBA in that city, looks like, and it was a bunch of, like, disgruntled lesbians. And I think the WNBA, as a league organizationally, they recognized that,” Gaines said in an interview with Fox News.
“It felt like virtually everyone in that arena. First of all, you could audibly hear it anytime Sophie was subbed in, stepped on the court, touched the ball, or threw up a shot. Her name was announced on the loudspeakers. You audibly heard it felt like the entire arena boo. But it also, it felt like they had been advised to only put people on the jumbotron who were draped in their trans flags. We here know, and the general public knows, that that’s not indicative of real life and the split of people who actually agree that men should be playing in women’s sports, that that’s fair or safe.”
Attending the Indiana Fever–Minnesota Lynx matchup in Minnesota, Gaines wore an XX-XY Athletics shirt and held up a handwritten sign reading: “Sophie, thank you. Signed, a girl mom.”
The Sophie Cunningham transgender saga continues to deeply divide the basketball community and has shown no signs of fading away anytime soon, especially against the backdrop of two ex-NBA players declaring for the 2027 WNBA draft.
While Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer, has emerged as a prominent voice opposing the inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports, this latest interview has drawn a lot of flak from the fanbase.
“It’s so crazy how they have tried to position themselves as “champions of women’s rights” while in the same breath calling every woman who disagrees with them a disgruntled lesbians,” remarked one fan, indicating that Gaines was perhaps too quick to label the fans present in the arena.
“So @Riley_Gaines_did you know that Sophie is on the away team, not the home team, so it’s normal for fans of the home team to boo players on the away team,” one fan said,” another fan said, indicating that it’s normal for home fans to boo the opposite team’s players.
“You buy your ticket, and you have the right to boo! Philly guy here, living in reality!,” another fan expressed, one fan chimed in.
Indeed, the game on August 2 saw fans protest and counter-protest outside the Target Center. Multiple Indiana Fever games have witnessed rallies on this controversial issue in the last month.
“Why is this swimmer weighing in on basketball?,” one fan exclaimed, asking why an ex-swimmer was weighing in on basketball-related matters.
“Why is Fox even interviewing her? She has no expertise, no knowledge, or special understanding of any topic that she talks about,” another fan said, indicating that perhaps Gaines may not be the ideal person to comment on this issue, when, at the same time, a lot of other matters deserve the attention of the fans.
Another fan made a comment that summarised the outrage that the fans experienced, as they couldn’t understand what Gaines was complaining about. They wrote, “Why would they be cheering for an opposing player?”
The issues are bound to resume once the W is back in action and Cunningham takes the court for the Indiana Fever. The WNBA is on a break for the FIBA World Cup. The focus will shift to on-court activities as Team USA takes on Italy in their next group stage game.