Sophie Cunningham and her podcast co-host West Wilson are at odds over the increasingly heated discussion about transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.
The WNBA star has faced both sharp criticism and strong backing in recent weeks after speaking about her desire to “protect” girls from competing against “biological men.”
Cunningham, 29, made clear she supports efforts centered on protecting women’s sports during an interview with ESPN, and later stood by those comments.
But Wilson, her longtime friend and podcast partner, has now publicly pushed back, using social media to distance himself from her stance and downplay the scale of the issue.
In a TikTok post, Wilson said: “Transgender athletes in American sports is such a borderline nonexistent issue that right-wingers have convinced a massive portion of people in our country that these people are a threat to sports in America when mathematically, that’s not the case at all.”
He also argued that the political messaging surrounding transgender athletes is designed to divide people while further marginalizing transgender individuals.
Sophie Cunningham and podcast co-host West Wilson are split over the debate about transgender athletes in women’s sports
West Wilson said in a TikTok video that transgender athletes in American sports are a “borderline nonexistent issue”
‘There is, like, 10 transgender athletes in all of the NCAA,’ Wilson continued.
‘I think there are unique questions that can be handled on individual bases, but to allow this to take our attention from housing, healthcare, wars, all the other actual harmful s*** in our country is dumb.’
The disagreement marks a sharp rift between the two childhood friends, whose joint podcast platform has routinely showcased their close relationship off the court.
Back in 2022, Indiana Fever star Cunningham faced heavy backlash after sharing a post from CBS Sports host Josh Pate regarding the controversy surrounding former Penn transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and their inclusion on the women’s team.
Pate’s post read: ‘Female collegiate athletes deserve so much better than this’.
Cunningham was forced to release a statement over the matter, at the time, saying that she ‘stands’ with athletes, but calling for ‘fair’ competition in events.
In a recent interview with ESPN, Cunningham spoke about the backlash and doubled down on her remarks, saying: ‘I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that’.
‘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.’
Cunningham doubled down after her comments about trans athletes sparked fury
The Indiana Fever star then doubled down on her views with a not-so subtle Instagram post on Thursday afternoon.
Taking to the social media platform, the WNBA star shared pictures of her arriving before one of the Fever’s recent games, with the caption: ‘I said what I said.’
She also had the location tagged as ‘Women’s Sports’, before later changing it.
Cunningham, who is a close friend to teammate Caitlin Clark, had already defended her comments before her team’s Wednesday night game against Connecticut Sun.
She told reporters: ‘There’s going to be some negative comments but there’s also a lot of positive comments too. It is what it is.
‘We’re all human, I really don’t care what other people have to say. I said what I said, I think it’s common sense and I think I will always believe in that. I stand on what I said.’
Cunningham was asked if her words signal a move to become more political but she denies having any aspirations to remain outspoken on any other major issues.
