We are united’: Fever break silence on rally tied to Sophie Cunnningham’s comments

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham (8) celebrates scoring Thursday, June 18, 2026, during the first half of a game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The Indiana Fever defeated the Seattle Storm 105-95 on Tuesday night in the first night of regular-season action for the WNBA after the All-Star break. However, instead of the Fever’s three-game winning streak entering the game, a lot of the coverage surrounding the Fever was on comments reserve guard Sophie Cunningham made regarding transgender athletes.

“ I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,'” Cunningham said via a profile on her published by ESPN. “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.”

Cunningham’s words became a hot-topic issue, with people weighing in from all over the media, intense debates being had online, and even rallies being planned.

After the game, WNBA reporter Roberta Rodrigues, who rebuked Cunningham’s comments and the rally tied to them on social media, asked head coach Stephanie White, who is married to journalist Lisa Salters, about the situation.

“Coach, there was a rally before the game, an anti-trans rally before the game, inspired by Sophie Cunningham,” Rodrigues started. “As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, how did you receive her comments and the way it ignited the right-wing and anti-trans supporters? And for the players, have you had conversations in the locker room about it?”

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

A Fever spokesperson interjected and answered for White with a pre-written statement.

“I’ll jump in on that. We do have an organizational statement I’ll read. Um, so neither our organization nor Sophie had any knowledge of this demonstration and no contact with its organizers. 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 on that mission.”

Cunningham finished the game with 11 points on 3-for-6 shooting in 24 minutes.

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