{"id":22424,"date":"2026-07-30T22:03:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22424"},"modified":"2026-07-30T22:03:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:03:16","slug":"seattle-storm-owner-suspended-by-wnba-for-calling-young-indiana-fever-fans-wearing-anti-trans-shirts-fcking-insane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22424","title":{"rendered":"Seattle Storm Owner Suspended by WNBA for Calling Young Indiana Fever Fans Wearing Anti-Trans Shirts \u2018F*cking Insane\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5648244\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5648244\" class=\"wp-image-5648244 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/am12.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AP25214016283289-1200x800.jpg\" alt=\"Sophie Cunningham\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5648244\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham dribbles up court against the Dallas Wings during the first half of a WNBA basketball game Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>A co-owner for the Seattle Storm was suspended by the WNBA for confronting young fans who wore shirts advocating against trans women competing in women&#8217;s sports.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of Wednesday&#8217;s game between the Storm and the Fever, fans gathered outside Seattle&#8217;s Climate Pledge Arena for a rally in support of Fever guard <strong>Sophie Cunningham<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Days earlier, ESPN published a profile on Cunningham in which she stated she was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/sports\/karoline-leavitt-comes-to-defense-of-indiana-fever-player-amid-backlash-for-comments-on-trans-athletes\/\">against trans athletes<\/a> competing with biological women. She received a backlash for the remarks from left-wing critics, and she later doubled down in response.<\/p>\n<p>During the game, a pair of young girls sat courtside wearing shirts from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xx-xyathletics.com\/pages\/our-mission\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">XX-XY Athletics<\/a> &#8212; a brand that explicitly states its opposition to trans athletes participating in women&#8217;s sports. One girl held up a sign that read, &#8220;Thank you Sophie for speaking up for girls.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed_container\" id=\"a6465bf9749fe18561dafb010bb7cb3b\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/72x72\/1f6a8.png\" alt=\"\ud83d\udea8\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em;max-height: 1em\" \/>JUST IN: Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton cursed out two spectators with a sign that said \u201cThank you Sophie for speaking up for girls\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The spectators were also wearing XX-XY Athletics shirts, which is an organization that \u201cempower female athletes and take a stand for\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VeR2oWVtQA\">pic.twitter.com\/VeR2oWVtQA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Polymarket Sports (@PolymarketSport) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/PolymarketSport\/status\/2082535563970662441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/story\/_\/id\/49488391\/storm-fined-co-owner-attend-games-fan-confrontation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ESPN<\/a>, Storm co-owner <strong>Celeste Keaton<\/strong> aggressively confronted the girls over the shirts and sign, prompting the WNBA to suspend her for the Storm&#8217;s next five home games.<\/p>\n<p>A video obtained by Fox News also shows the girls being accosted by fans.<\/p>\n<p>A group of Storm fans could be seeing arguing with the parents of the young girls, and one of the men on screen even said, &#8220;Garbage,&#8221; and asked security to &#8220;take the trash out&#8221; while appearing to gesture toward the parents. Fox also claimed Keaton told the girls they were &#8220;f*cking insane.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed_container\" id=\"e47c7497d8e861a504f669294173e4e7\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;Security: Take the trash out.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>That&#039;s what a Seattle Storm fan was heard yelling at teenage Sophie Cunningham fans.<\/p>\n<p>The WNBA team&#039;s co-owner is also alleged to have berated the girls wearing XX-XY Athletics shirts and carrying handmade signs thanking Cunningham for her recent\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vQ1ekNJXyL\">pic.twitter.com\/vQ1ekNJXyL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Fox News (@FoxNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FoxNews\/status\/2082627754374111450?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>After learning of the situation, Cunningham took to social media to express support for the girls.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed_container\" id=\"3ef1127c7f0107544ce65c937978030c\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I truly believe there is a safe space and love for EVERYBODY. Biological girls, biological boys, trans women, and trans men. Everyone is welcome at my table! You can disagree and still be kind. <\/p>\n<p>Bravo to those girls for standing up for what they believe. You\u2019ll be hearing from\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gIVWhEHi3Q\">https:\/\/t.co\/gIVWhEHi3Q<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Sophie Cunningham (@sophaller) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/sophaller\/status\/2082675804874604615?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;I truly believe there is a safe space and love for EVERYBODY,&#8221; she tweeted. &#8220;Biological girls, biological boys, trans women, and trans men. Everyone is welcome at my table! You can disagree and still be kind. Bravo to those girls for standing up for what they believe. You&#8217;ll be hearing from me soon. Yay for gifts.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Truly embarrassing of the co-owner. Unfortunately shows the type of leader she is.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/sports\/seattle-storm-owner-suspended-by-wnba-for-calling-young-indiana-fever-fans-wearing-anti-trans-shirts-fcking-insane\/\">Seattle Storm Owner Suspended by WNBA for Calling Young Indiana Fever Fans Wearing Anti-Trans Shirts \u2018F*cking Insane\u2019<\/a> first appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\">Mediaite<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham dribbles up court against the Dallas Wings during the first half of a WNBA basketball game Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez) A co-owner for the Seattle Storm was suspended by the WNBA for confronting young fans who wore shirts advocating against trans women competing in women&#8217;s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/am12.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AP25214016283289-1200x800.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}