USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
WNBA’s Syd Colson has some strong words for Sophie Cunningham and other players speaking out on the trans issue.
Earlier this year, Cunningham caused a firestorm and went viral when she spoke about trans men playing in women’s sports.
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” said Cunningham “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.”
During a recent podcast, Colson advised Cunningham and other “white players” to “shut the f— up’ about the trans issue.
“Let me just tell you now for the white players in the league, when you don’t say sh-t, and even worse, When you say things that are harmful, you talking about the trans sh-t, nobody respects you. Shut the f-ck up. Shut the f-ck up. Nobody wants to hear your opinion. Your freedom of speech, so you can say it, but just know people are just trying to get by when they’re dealing with you. Yeah, that’s crazy. And you ought to be ashamed. Y’all ought to be ashamed to act like you’re cool with people, to act like you care about sisterhood, all of these things.”
Syd Colson tells Sophie Cunningham to shut the Fu*k up and calls out all white players https://t.co/oy09OIun0l
— Letstalkksports (@letstalkksports) October 8, 2026
Colson also spoke about Indiana Fever fans, and called them “racist” and “misogynists.”
“We have done little to nothing to address the problems that have happened within Gainbridge Fieldhouse and in arenas where the Fever are playing. Nobody said that the man who pointed is racist, but what I painted for you was an environment of a culture that’s starting to— that, I mean, that’s continuing and not being addressed, and that people are being told that things are not based in reality. Even though players are documented and on record saying what they’ve experienced. So now it’s a slap in the face to Black players who are in the organization right now, who have been in it, who are going to possibly have to be in it. Because at the end of the day, y’all have to remember, we have 14 teams to choose from.
“But this environment is not discouraging people from showing up and being hateful, racist, homophobic, sexist, any of those things. And it’s a problem. It’s a huge problem. It’s a problem, and it’s not new. And there’s a common denominator, and we need to stop acting like shit is not based in reality, because it is.”
Enough is enough.
📺 Watch now: https://t.co/uEC3eoTYzC https://t.co/PM8YVBfQjG
— Unsupervised (@SydandTP) October 8, 2026