IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Sophie Cunningham is once again causing a stir with her latest comments.
Two weeks ago, Cunningham went viral when she spoke against youth trans athletes participating in women’s sports during an interview with ESPN.
“She’ll weigh in on how to “protect women’s sports,” she says, because she’s in that world and feels qualified to speak to that world. “I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” she says. “I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
Over the weekend, things came to a head when Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve confronted Cunningham while wearing a “trans kids belong” shirt during the game.
“I come from a space of inclusion. And the narrative that I think that is problematic is to suggest that, number one, that transgender athletes are the biggest problem in women’s sports. And I think this is what’s bothersome is that there’s a faction of people in our country that are making this a massive issue.” Reeve told the media.
On Wednesday, Cunningham blamed the WNBA media for focusing on “everything except basketball” amid the recent coverage regarding her comments about youth trans athletes in women’s sports.
“The WNBA media, all we ever do is cover everything except basketball … You can talk about other things; those are great stories. It shows fans who people are outside of the court, but I think we gotta keep the main thing the main thing.”
Sophie Cunningham: “The WNBA media, all we ever do is cover everything except basketball … You can talk about other things, those are great stories, it shows fans who people outside of the court, but I think we gotta keep the main thing the main thing.”pic.twitter.com/AgVTTfHA43
— Underdog WNBA (@UnderdogWNBA) August 5, 2026
Cunningham was immediately criticized over her comments.
YOU started talking about it. YOU made this a convo and now YOU want to run away. If YOU want to shut up and dribble than do that but don’t act like this didn’t all become the main conversation because of YOU. https://t.co/OL0AgVOUID
— H (@hellohalima) August 5, 2026
You made the comment
Doubled down on the comment
Publicly supported the protesters that showed up
Made time to take pictures with the protesters 3 straight gamesThis like setting a fire in your home and blaming the news for reporting that there is a fire in your home https://t.co/bETtn28gzR
— Future Of The Retro (@TraeK_) August 5, 2026