Charlamagne tha God puts Enes Kanter Freedom on blast for WNBA theatrics

Charlamagne tha God has taken aim at Enes Kanter Freedom after the former NBA center was ejected from the Indiana Fever–Chicago Sky game.

Freedom attended Sunday’s matchup while supporting Sophie Cunningham amid the debate surrounding the WNBA. He also wore a shirt carrying a message about biological sex before the confrontation with Sky guard Natasha Cloud.

Speaking on The Breakfast Club’s “Donkey of the Day,” Charlamagne questioned Freedom’s approach and its impact on the game.

“You’ve lost the plot,” Charlamagne said. “He says he’s doing all of this because he wants to protect women. So you go into a space built around women, a league played by women, a workplace where women are doing their jobs and you create a situation where one of the women playing basketball ends up arguing with you.”

He made his point that Freedom’s presence shifted attention away from the players. “The headline coming out of the game isn’t about the women’s basketball game,” Charlamagne said. “It’s about you, Enes Kanter Freedom.”

Charlamagne also challenged Freedom’s claim that he was protecting women. “How did protecting women become making yourself the main character in women’s basketball?” he asked. “You don’t protect women’s spaces by walking into women’s spaces and making the whole damn space about you.”

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Chicago, Illinois, USA; Turkish-American former basketball player and human rights activist Enes Kanter Freedom reacts as he is removed from the arena during the second half against the Indiana Fever at Wintrust Arena. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect (Reuters)

Charlamagne’s criticism centers on team structure and competitive focus. Players already manage intense scrutiny, and courtside political confrontations can dominate coverage after games.

Freedom has argued that he attended to support Cunningham, who has faced backlash over her views on transgender athletes. However, the incident with Cloud moved the conversation from Cunningham’s basketball performance to a courtside dispute.

Charlamagne went further, saying activism loses credibility when it creates the conflict it claims to expose. “If you have to manufacture the crisis you’re warning everybody about,” he said, “then you’re not raising awareness to a problem. You actually are the problem.”

That distinction matters for the WNBA. The league needs attention on its players, games and competitive storylines, not repeated distractions around outside figures.

Freedom’s appearance may have drawn attention, but Charlamagne thinks it came at the expense of the women’s game he claimed to support.