Indiana Fever forward Sophie Cunningham was booed and took an elbow to the face during Sunday's game against the Minnesota Lynx, only for referees to call a foul on her rather than the player who hit her. The call drew outrage from Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy and conservative activist Riley Gaines, who have both rallied to the 29-year-old's defense.
Portnoy and Gaines are among a growing number of Cunningham supporters who have followed her across Indiana's three-game road trip, showing up at stops in Seattle, Portland and Minneapolis after her public comments objecting to transgender athletes competing in women's sports. Many other WNBA fans have booed Cunningham over the same remarks.
Gaines caught up with Cunningham in Minneapolis on Sunday, posing for a courtside photo before the Fever's 108-100 loss to the Lynx. Cunningham was jeered through much of the afternoon game.
During the game, Lynx forward Nia Coffey struck Cunningham in the face with an elbow. Officials did not call a foul on Coffey and instead whistled Cunningham for a personal foul, before reviewing the play for a possible hostile act and ruling that none had occurred.
"Sophie just got 17 of her teeth knocked out and they called her for the foul," Portnoy wrote on X, adding "Sick league" and tagging WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert. Cunningham did not in fact lose any teeth from the elbow.
Fans react to the foul call
Other critics echoed Portnoy's anger online. "The WNBA is a legitimate clown show," one wrote. "Sophie Cunningham gets a UFC elbow to her jaw and it's a foul on her???? It gets funnier by the day how unserious this league is." Another called it "intentional bullying, condoned by the @wnba," adding that the league was "essentially promoting violence against women." A separate post claimed racial bias, writing that Cunningham drew "another foul... for being a white woman in the way of a black elbow."
Officials had defenders too
Not everyone sided with Cunningham. Replay showed she made the initial illegal contact on defense before taking Coffey's elbow to the chin, and with officials ruling the elbow inadvertent rather than hostile, it was Cunningham's contact that was penalized. "This is absolutely a foul on Sophie," one fan wrote. Another posted in all capitals: "SHE WAS DRAPED ALL OVER HER EASILY A FOUL ON SOPHIE IF YOU THINK OTHERWISE YOU DONT KNOW BALL."
Protests outside the Minneapolis arena
The elbow was far from the only controversy in Minneapolis on Sunday. Protesters and counter-protesters lined the streets outside the arena before tip-off, and Cunningham was pulled into a pregame discussion on the topic with Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve, who later wore a shirt reading "Trans Kids Belong" during the game, which her team won 108-100.
"I think it's great," Reeve said of the conversation. "I think both of us understand that we have platforms and we both talked about wanting to, more than anything, educate. There are some things that we have in common, and maybe some things you differ on, just like any issues. I think it's how you handle things. It was nice to be in person, for sure."
Reeve speaks on inclusion
Reeve, who also serves as the Team USA coach, did not detail their full conversation but spoke before the game about her stance on transgender athletes in women's sports. "I come from a space of inclusion," she said. "The narrative that I think is problematic is to suggest that transgender athletes are the biggest problem in women's sports. This is what's bothersome. There is a faction of people in our country that are making this a massive issue."
The WNBA does not have any transgender players who were assigned male at birth, and never has. At the NCAA level, transgender student athletes are rare; in 2024, NCAA president Charlie Baker estimated there were fewer than 10 competing at the time.
Cunningham's comments and the Portland boos
Cunningham has been at the center of the trans debate for the past week after telling ESPN that young girls "shouldn't have to go against biological men" when playing sports. She had been supported by protesters outside several WNBA arenas, but the tide turned in Portland on Friday night, when the partisan home crowd booed her vociferously.
During that game, Cunningham appeared to use a hand signal to call the fans "losers" after hitting a 3-pointer, but later said on social media that wasn't the case. "I didn't call them losers but I did talk s***," she wrote alongside video of the moment. She followed up with a video of herself holding a finger to her lips as fans booed, and later shared a clip of herself handing a young fan her game-worn shoes.
Seattle owner banned for five games
Days before the Minneapolis game, the same group of organizers made national news in Seattle when Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton told two young Cunningham supporters they were "f***ing insane" for demonstrating courtside. The WNBA has since banned Keaton from her team's next five home games.
