After the Indiana Fever defeated the Dallas Wings on Friday, Sophie Cunningham was seen at Clayton’s Country Bar in Indianapolis. Clayton Anderson, the country music singer who happens to own the bar, spotted the Fever guard and asked her to sing alongside him. Cunningham obliged, and they ended up belting out Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue.”
The clip of Cunningham and Anderson singing, which has been viewed 1.5 million times, drew a positive reaction from former college swimmer Riley Gaines.
“America’s sweetheart,” gaines wrote on x.
This is the latest compliment Gaines has given Cunningham in recent weeks. Since Cunningham’s ESPN profile came out last month, the former Kentucky swimmer has thrown her weight behind the Fever star.
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Gaines took the opportunity to pose for a picture with the Fever guard after Cunningham’s squad visited the Minnesota Lynx on Aug. 2. Gaines tweeted the picture, in which she recreated Cunningham’s viral finger-pointing meme, and posted a short statement in the caption: “Little girls belong.”
When DiJonai Carrington committed a hard foul against Cunningham a week later, Gaines was at it again, claiming that the physicality endured by the Fever guard was “because she said men have no place in women’s sports.”
Gaines has staunchly opposed the participation of trans athletes in women’s sports after she tied with trans athlete Lia Thomas at a 2022 NCAA swimming event.
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“A Role Model Off the Court”: Enes Kanter Freedom Praises Sophie Cunningham Amidst Buzz Surrounding His “Declaration” for WNBA Draft
Another athlete who has given Sophie Cunningham her flowers is Enes Kanter Freedom, who’s made headlines of his own amidst the discourse on transgender athletes.
In a sit-down interview with Bruce Pearl of the America First Policy Institute, Freedom hailed Cunningham for her remarks.
“She’s becoming a role model off the court as well. She’s actually pushing people to think.”
Freedom, who “declared” for the WNBA draft to challenge the league’s eligibility guidelines, also called Cunningham “the player I want to be like one day.”
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