‘Her whiteness sells’: Sophie Cunningham gets blasted for embracing ‘racism and misogyny’

Jul 31, 2026; Portland, Oregon, USA; Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) finishes a press conference before a game against the Portland Fire at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-Imagn ImagesIndiana Fever reserve guard Sophie Cunningham sparked what has proved to be the defining controversy of the 2026 WNBA season when her comments on transgender athlete participation in sports were published in an ESPN profile heading into the All-Star break.

>“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” she said in the feature. “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.”

>She then doubled down to local media a few days later.

>“I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense,” Cunningham said. “And I think I’ll always believe in that. I think it’s really important to protect children, and that’s little girls who are also involved in that category. I stand on what I said.”

>Seemingly everyone has weighed in on the topic since, including her own head coach Stephanie White and Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve.

“Cunningham doesn’t fight it. She bathes in it.”On Sunday, The Guardian’s Howard Bryant published a column eviscerating Cunningham, writing that she was “largely anonymous politically or otherwise during her eight-year career,” until her recent comments “earned her hero status of the specious “Protect Our Girls” movement, even though you’d need a microscope to find any critical mass of transgender women participating in sports at any level.”

>Bryant went on to write that Cunningham has embraced “her whiteness.”

>“Just as (Caitlin Clark’s) long-range shooting made the W accessible to the men who either ridiculed or ignored women’s sports, so too does Cunningham’s barstool friendliness. With mainstream money comes the mainstream language – and its accompanying racism and misogyny. Her whiteness sells. Her whiteness and straightness in a time of nationwide anti-blackness and homophobia sell even more. Cunningham doesn’t fight it. She bathes in it.”

>He finished with an insinuation that Cunningham is doing this not for any desire to improve the world, but that she is grifting for her own advancement after a career of mediocrity.

>“Cunningham is using the attention not to further a cause, but to further herself. She has been likened as a modern-day Dennis Rodman in her ability to draw attention to herself, but Rodman was a Hall of Fame player and as a player, Cunningham is moderately impactful.

>“She understands the source of the attention – the white dude bros who are the engine of the male sports economy who need a sexy, long-legged blonde to fuel their interest in the women’s – and the avenues it provides: the broadcast booth, the paid celebrity appearances, the playful get-over-yourselves UFC ring girl brand. She’s setting up her second act, and if she plays these 15 minutes right, they could last 30 years. It’s an obvious, empty grift for an obvious, empty culture.”

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