Since Sophie Cunningham spoke about her views on trans athletes competing in women’s sports on July 21, the WNBA community has relentlessly debated the issue. However, the events that preceded her “I want to protect young girls in a locker room” comment have snowballed into more controversy.
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With Sophie Cunningham standing by her views, her supporters have organized three rallies so far, leading to the fans on the opposing side of the argument to stage their own counter demonstrations. However, it’s who Cunningham posed with ahead of Indiana Fever’s loss against the Minnesota Lynx last Sunday that has brought the latest wave of criticism from the hosts of the New York Times’ Sports Gossip Show.
Presenters Charlotte Wilder and Madeline Hill harshly questioned Cunningham’s motives after she took several pictures with political activist Riley Gaines.
“It is so clear at this point that Sophie Cunningham is doing a pretty blatant, like, right-wing grift,” presenter Madeline Hill said while discussing the issue, and her co-host Charlotte Wilder agreed.
“Yeah, she’s doing a hard pivot right. I just think that she knows what she’s doing, and she knows that ultimately her basketball career is only going to be so long. She’s not the best player. She’s not…”
“And to say that it didn’t cross her mind or her team is that this could be a distraction in a way. It’s like, please. You really think that this wasn’t going to be a distraction?”
“You spoke about this issue in an interview with ESPN and didn’t think, ‘Oh, this would maybe be a headline that would be attached to my name,’ and would continue to snowball? And then you pose with Riley Gaines… You think we’re dumb?”
These comments come at a time when Cunningham has tried to push the conversation away by bringing the focus back to basketball being played both by the Fever and across the WNBA. She expressed the sentiment during an interview on August 5.
“I think the WNBA media, all we ever do is cover everything except basketball,” she told reporters. “And it’s like, what are we doing? There’s so much. You can talk about other things. I think those are great stories… But I also think we’ve got to keep the main thing the main thing.”
She highlighted the Fever’s game against the Minnesota Lynx on August 2, which she picked for the star matchup between Olivia Miles and Kelsey Mitchell. Fans who kept up with coverage of the game itself would know that it was overshadowed by a rally in support of Cunningham and the message on Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve’s shirt.
Reeve wore a “Trans Kids Belong” t-shirt during the game, but despite their contrasting views, the pair had a respectful conversation just ahead of the game when the players were warming up.
As Cunningham continues to receive both support and criticism over her comments, reactions from prominent media personalities have shown that the debate is far from over, even if the guard wishes the spotlight would return to the game itself.