Sophie Cunningham’s comments on transgender athletes dominated conversations recently, and the Fever’s public relations response to the matter was not satisfactory for WNBA analyst Sabreena Merchant. With rallies in support of Cunninghaman and protests against it outside the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington, the Fever seemed to have had a safe response ready for the media.
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Given that incidents outside the arena in Seattle, questions about what Cunningham had said, and the actions it had inspired were always going to surface in the press conference post the Seattle Storm matchup with the Fever in Seattle. And when Forbes reporter Roberta F. Rodrigues asked Fever head coach Stephanie White about the fan rally in Cunningham’s support, a representative from the Fever’s PR team wasted no time stepping in to read out a statement. For Sabreena Merchant, that intervention did not sit well at all.
“I don’t believe that teams need to protect their players and coaches this much in terms of just speaking on what they’re saying,” Merchant said on the No Offseason podcast’s Thursday episode alongside Zena Keita. “You know, I think Steph White was perfectly capable of answering that question… I think it’s just pretty unfortunate that the Fever did not make Sophie Cunningham available to talk about this. So I don’t think they need to be protected by teams… And they don’t need to hide behind a shield of a pre-recorded statement.”
For Merchant, Stephanie White, who is publicly identified with the LGBTQ community, seemed to be in a particularly well-positioned place to speak to that question authentically and directly. The fact that she didn’t get the opportunity to do so was, in Merchant’s view, not only disappointing but also out of step with the push for greater media access to WNBA players and coaches.
And as Merchant also pointed out, this is not the first time something like this has happened this season. Earlier in the year, the Dallas Wings stepped in to prevent Azzi Fudd from answering questions about her personal life. Specifically about her relationship with Paige Bueckers, in a very similar fashion. This pattern of teams shielding players and coaches from certain questions at press conferences is one Merchant clearly finds increasingly problematic.
Beyond the press conference intervention after the game in Seattle, Merchant’s co-host, Zena Keita, also noted that the Indiana Fever did not make Sophie Cunningham available to speak to the media after the game at all. This led to further conversation about the freedom to allow players to comment on their own stances, thereby facilitating media narratives to use exactly what the players said. Cunningham did eventually comment afterward, but not through the media availability process.
Her response came through her own social media, where she addressed the conduct of Storm minority co-owner Celeste Keaton toward the teenage fans who had brought signs in support of her position on the trans issue.
The conversations surrounding all of this show no signs of fading. And they will almost certainly resurface, likely in the Fever’s next media availability.