Over the past couple of weeks, Sophie Cunningham has seemingly embraced all of the attention that came along with her decision to speak out against transgender women competing in women’s sports. Now, however, it seems that following all the criticism, she has changed her mind in that regard.
In an interview on Wednesday afternoon ahead of Thursday’s game against the Las Vegas Aces, Cunningham expressed frustration that her comments have become a “distraction” and made it clear that she now wants to “get back to basketball” after all of the controversy and criticism that her comments sparked.
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Cunningham Embraced the Attention
Immediately following her high-profile comments in an ESPN profile where she expressed her desire to “protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men,” Cunningham embraced all the attention that came her way.
In an interview immediately after her comments were published, Cunningham doubled down, calling her comments “common sense.”
“I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense,” Cunningham said, doubling down. “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.”
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Cunningham followed those comments with an Instagram post of her flipping her hair with a caption that read “I said what I said.” She then posed for a photo with prominent anti-trans activist Riley Gaines, who attended the team’s recent game against the Minnesota Lynx.
Throughout all of this, Cunningham made it pretty clear that while her job was to play basketball, she had no intention of shying away from the controversy.
“At the end of the day, I come in and I do my job,” Cunningham said via ESPN. “I think everyone who knows me personally, they know that I’m full of love. I’m bubbly. I love the people around me. I love basketball. I love inspiring the next generation and doing that in a positive light. And so that doesn’t even cross my mind. Doesn’t cross my teammates’ minds.
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“And again, I’m here to play basketball, but I’m also here to be me, and I’m not going to like shadow that or hide or, you know, dim my light just because maybe people don’t agree with that.”
However, she seems to have changed her mind in that regard.
‘Get Back to Basketball’
On Wednesday, Cunningham spoke to the media ahead of Thursday’s game against the Aces. During her conversation with the media, Cunningham indicated that she was no longer interested in focusing on her comments and instead wanted the focus to be on basketball.
“There is so much good going on in the WNBA. I think basketball is being played at the highest level it’s ever been,” Cunningham told WISH-TV News in Indianapolis. “There’s just so much distraction. The WNBA media, all we ever do is cover everything except basketball. It’s like, what are we doing? You can talk about other things, I think those are great stories, it shows fans who people are outside of the court, but I also think we gotta keep the main thing the main thing.”
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“I want to get back to basketball, it’s always been about basketball,” Cunningham insisted. “That interview happened in February when I was asked a question. And for me, I just want to make sure the focus stays where it should.”
Cunningham spent the past couple of weeks embracing all of the attention that her comments brought her. Now, she seemingly wants that attention to go away.
The post Sophie Cunningham changes her mind after trans comments spark outrage appeared first on The Comeback: Today’s Top Sports Stories & Reactions.
