Sophie Cunningham tried to laugh off the boos that dogged her at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday night.
Cunningham was booed when she checked into the Indiana Fever’s 101-95 victory over the Toronto Tempo on Tuesday and intermittently throughout the night.
She has become a political lightning rod for her stance on transgender women playing in the WNBA but she tried to blame the jeers on a recent social media post where she and teammates Caitlin Clark and Lexie Hull tried ketchup chips for the first time.
“Really?” said Cunningham when asked if she had heard the boos.
The reporter then suggested that maybe it was her disdain for the classic Canadian snack that drew the ire of spectators.
“You know what? I like where your mind’s at,” said Cunningham. “I heard I was supposed to try different brands.”
There was a mixed response of boos and cheers as Cunningham got off the visitors’ bench and removed her warm-up gear in the first quarter. When it was announced that she had officially checked into the game for the first time there was a louder round of boos at Scotiabank Arena.
Cunningham was also loudly booed as she took three free throws in the fourth quarter and again when she stopped to sign some autographs while leaving the court post-game.
“I will tell you, I want to shout out the Tempo crowd in the city. I think we’ve had so much fun,” said Cunningham. “It’s my first time being in Canada. It’s a lot of our first times being in Canada.
“The crowd was absolutely amazing, and I think that’s what sports is all about. You’re going to get boos, you’re going to get cheers.”
Cunningham said in an interview with ESPN on July 21 that WNBA players shouldn’t have to play against “biological men,” referring to transgender women.
There are currently no transgender women in the WNBA or playing NCAA women’s basketball. There are fewer than 10 openly transgender people among the 500,000 student-athletes competing across all NCAA sports.
The WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement states that “only players who are women are eligible to play,” but it does not include any more specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth. Last Friday, two former NBA players, Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, declared themselves eligible for the WNBA draft in April, saying they identify as women.
Cunningham said on Aug. 5 that the reaction following her transphobic remarks had become “a distraction.”
Fans held up small signs and flags supporting transgender people during the game with messages like “Transphobes don’t belong in women’s sports” and “We (heart) trans athletes.”
There were at least three blue, pink and white transgender pride flags in the Scotiabank Arena crowd.
During a stoppage in play with 1:25 left in the fourth quarter the venue’s cameras briefly showed two fans with a trans pride flag that read “Trans rights are human rights,” drawing cheers before the camera cut away.
About a dozen demonstrators supporting Cunningham held signs and a flag outside Scotiabank Arena before tipoff. The flag made it into the arena and was held up by Cunningham’s supporters above the tunnel mouth as she made her way to the locker room.
One fan carried a trans pride flag over to the pro-Cunningham supporters and faced them, holding their flag up, before continuing to the exits.
