Sophie Cunningham has Stephen A. Smith in her corner.
The Fever guard opened up in an interview with ESPN published Tuesday about various topics, including transgender athletes and their participation in sports.
She denied disliking trans athletes but said she feels she needs to “protect young girls in the locker room.”
She then doubled down on her stance with reporters Wednesday, and it all has caused a stir in the WNBA and sports as a whole.
Smith, the ESPN personality, has Cunningham’s back and said she “is a thousand percent right” on his Thursday afternoon SiriusXM Radio show.
“What if an NBA player decided to transition to playing in the WNBA?” Smith asked. “How elite would they be? How great would they be? We gotta put stuff in its proper perspective and call it like it is.”
“I am a supporter of the LGBTQ+ community,” Smith added. “I believe in supporting people’s civil rights and civil liberties come hell or high water. To the end. But you also gotta look out for everybody else. You can’t look out for a trans athlete at the expense of biological women. What did they do?”
Smith explained he believes there should be trans athlete-specific leagues, calling it “simple” and not “wrong” to do that.
“We live in a society where people got scared. They got scared to say these things. We’ve got to stop that. Every truth ain’t meant to be told … but it ain’t meant to be hidden either,” he continued. “You can’t have a society where we’re ignoring the clear unfairness of a male transitioning to female and competing in their sports. It is clearly unfair to women. Sophie Cunningham is a thousand percent right!”
Cunningham addressed the ESPN feature ahead of the Fever’s 123-88 win over the Sun.
“I said what I said, I think it’s common sense,” she told reporters. “I think I’ll always believe in that, it’s really important to protect children. And that’s little girls, who are also involved in that category. I stand by what I said and I’ll always believe that.”
“I extend love, I don’t dislike anyone, I think there’s room for absolutely everyone here,” she went on. “I think there’s room to love everyone. I truly think when you get people in the same room, you actually have a lot in common with a lot of people. … But I’m also there to love biological women, and I think there are rights that need to be protected.”
Cunningham has been labeled as “MAGA Barbie” among some online circles.
She told ESPN she disagreed with the notion that she’s only right-leaning, saying she feels her political stances are more nuanced and that not all is spelled out in her answers about trans athletes.
“I’m very much in the middle,” she told the outlet. “I agree with things on both sides, disagree with things on both sides. And that’s all I’ve ever said about my political beliefs.”
The 29-year-old scored eight points against Connecticut on Wednesday and added three rebounds, two assists and one steal.
She is averaging 9.3 points per game for the Fever (17-10) as the league heads into All-Star weekend.
