Jason Whitlock argued the “Black queers” in the WNBA are targeting Indiana Fever stars Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham mostly because they are White and not gay.
The conservative sports pundit claimed during a Saturday morning interview on CNN the league’s Black lesbians are going after the two women because they are jealous of their incredible popularity and would prefer the WNBA is represented by players who share more demographic data with them.
He joined Michael Smerconish’s show a week after Cunningham was absolutely clobbered with a vicious clothesline smack to the head by Chicago Sky player DiJonai Carrington in a nationally broadcast game; Carrington posted on social media minutes after being ejected from the game the world had witnessed “WHITE PRIVILEGE,” but she later claimed anyone who assumed she was talking about Cunningham was dead wrong.
The incident became national news and added to the controversy surrounding Cunningham, and also comes after Clark has been on the receiving end of several rough hits since she entered the league in 2024.
“Is the controversy driven by race, by politics, or just by competition?” Smerconish asked.
“I think it’s all three, but I would probably add a fourth — sexuality and sexual identify,” Whitlock answered.
He continued:
The WNBA if you listen to a lot of their players, they consider themselves a black, queer league. And Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham aren’t Black and queer — and particularly as it relates to Caitlin Clark, she’s come in and had a huge impact on the league, who actually watches the league, and in competition there is a natural jealousy.
So some of this is just natural, but some of it is driven by who’s going to define the league, who’s going to represent the league.
There’s this whole big controversy about who’s going to be the face of the league. It is Caitlin Clark. I think the Black queers in the league who felt they built this league and it’s their league are in objection to that.
Smerconish pushed back, saying he went looking for data on the hard fouls against Cunningham and Clark being driven by “racial animus.” He said he couldn’t find any, even after asking Claude. Smerconish said the AI model told him “There’s no evidence it’s being driven by race,” before asking Whitlock what his evidence was they were being targeted based on sexuality.
“Uh, what the ladies actually say in the league,” he said.
The flagrant foul on Sophie Cunningham by Dijonai Carrington on August 8 (Photo Credit: ESPN)
Whitlock pointed to recent comments made by Sydney Colson, a former Indiana teammate of Clark’s who posted last week she loves a “trans foul” after Cunningham was walloped. The post seemed to be an obvious reference to Cunningham’s comments last month, when she told ESPN she does not believe girls and women should compete against biological boys and men who have transitioned. Cunningham has been both praised and condemned for it since then.
Here is the comment which sparked the whole saga:
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” [Cunningham] says. “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.”
Smerconish then brought up the hit on Cunningham.
“Can I just ask this — the foul heard and seen ’round the world — are you telling me that you think there’s actual intention in committing a foul like that as to the gender identity, the sexuality, of the particular players? Like, that’s entering the thought process?” he asked.
“Yes, yes,” Whitlock told him flatly. “DiJonai Carrington has a history. Sophie Cunningham is not the first player and/or White player [she has targeted] — this woman in 2024 took a shot at trying to gauge out Caitlin Clark’s eyes. There’s plenty of tape on DiJonai Carrington and there’s plenty of commentary.”
Watch above.
The post Right-Wing Pundit Argues WNBA’s Jealous ‘Black Queers’ Are Targeting Sophie Cunningham and Caitlin Clark first appeared on Mediaite.
