Why Fever declined to have Caitlin Clark, others answer questions about pro-Sophie Cunningham rally

Why Fever declined to have Caitlin Clark, others answer questions about pro-Sophie Cunningham rally originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Indiana Fever forward Sophie Cunningham continues to gain a following beyond the WNBA, and that proved to be the case on Tuesday night.

With the Fever on the road to play the Seattle Storm, a pro-Sophie Cunningham rally formed outside the arena to support Cunningham’s opinions on keeping transgender athletes out of women’s sports. The rally featured a small group of Washington residents who don’t usually get to see the Fever play in Seattle.

After the game, the Fever declined to answer questions about the rally and only made a few players available for questions outright. However, this likely won’t be the last time that Indiana gets embroiled in a situation like this based on Cunningham’s comments.

Here’s a breakdown of the pro-Sophie Cunningham rally from Tuesday.

MORE: Sophie Cunningham doubles down on transgender comments

Pro-Sophie Cunningham rally

With the Fever in Seattle to play the Storm, a crowd of fans gathered outside of Climate Pledge Arena to express their support for Cunningham. Additionally, the crowd also supported initiatives 638 and 011 in the state of Washington, which would ban transgender athletes from participating in high school sports in the state.

Small crowd here for the “support Sophie Cunningham” rally outside of Climate Pledge Arena.

Some folks opposing them are here as well. Interesting mix, some arguments taking place, and some Climate Pledge folks are monitoring it. pic.twitter.com/GDiyUUiSHs

— Circling Seattle Sports (@CirclingSports) July 29, 2026

The rally came just days after Cunningham spoke out against transgender athletes in women’s sports in an ESPN feature last week. Cunningham’s said she wanted to “protect children” by speaking out about this divisive topic.

Why Fever declined to answer questions about pro-Sophie Cunningham rally

After the Fever beat the Storm on Tuesday night, in which Caitlin Clark scored a team-high 32 points, Indiana didn’t make either Clark or Cunningham available to the media. In fact, when Stephanie White was asked about the rally, Fever PR provided the media with a statement claiming to have no prior knowledge of the rally.

“Neither our organization nor Sophie had any knowledge of this demonstration and no contact with its organizers,” the statement said. “Our only goal as a team, whether at home or away, is to win basketball games and make Fever fans for life, and we are united in that mission.”

Asked Stephanie White and the players about the rally and Sophie Cunningham’s recent comments. Fever PR responded with a statement from the organization:

“Neither our organization nor Sophie had any knowledge of this demonstration and no contact with its organizers.

Our only… pic.twitter.com/GBIqrn8HwH

— Roberta 🏳️‍🌈 (@robertawbb) July 29, 2026

What did Sophie Cunningham say about transgender athletes?

In an ESPN feature by Hallie Grossman, Cunningham discussed her prior comments about her opinions regarding keeping trans athletes out of women’s sports.

“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,'” Cunningham said. “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.”

After the feature came out, Cunningham continued to defend her opinion by saying she was aiming to “protect children.”

“I’m there to love, but I’m also there to love biological women,” Cunningham said. “I think that there are rights that need to be protected, and I’m going to stand true to that.”

Cunningham’s popularity and notoriety have grown beyond the WNBA community, and this is the biggest example of that to date.