New York City’s WNBA team refused to take a paid scoreboard message from a woman who wanted to support the XX-XY movement to protect women’s sports from men identifying as women. Naturally, the team had no problem displaying pro-trans scoreboard messages.
Julie Potter, a lesbian hip-hop performer, says the New York Liberty tried to alter her message, which she paid to display at Barclays Center during the Liberty’s game against the Indiana Fever.
Potter says she has a receipt showing she paid $100 for the scoreboard message to be shown during the August 22 game, OutKick reports.
The singer adds that she asked the team to display the following message: “Thank you Jennifer Sey! XX-XY Athletics will Save the Day!”
The payment and message were accepted, Potter said, but the day before the game, she was contacted by the team and told that they would not display the message she had requested. Instead, the sales dept. told her the message they would agree to display would read, “Thank you Jennifer Sey, thank you for all you do for XX-XY Athletics.”
Potter said she told them that if they did not display the message she had paid for, she wanted to cancel it and get a refund.
Despite balking at Potter’s message, the Liberty had no problem displaying pro-transgender messages during the game.
The team told the media that they only want “positive” messages on the scoreboard.
“Our scoreboard messages are limited to positive, celebratory content, and submissions that may intentionally or unintentionally violate that spirit are not eligible for display,” the Liberty sales team told OutKick in an email response.
But Potter calls the incident an example of “censorship.”
“Unfortunately, this is censorship. My message was approved, and payment was accepted. You then changed it without giving me any opportunity to revise or respond, and you did so inside your own 48-hour window,” Potter said.
“Why would I pay to let you speak for me?” she asked.
Potter also said she has no clue which word or sentiment led the team to shy away from the original message she intended to display.
“I don’t know what that means. What did I do wrong? I want a code. I want a violation. I read everything. I read their website. I made sure to follow the rules,” Potter explained.
“I said nothing derogatory,” she added. “I didn’t even say, ‘Save women’s sports.’ I just said, ‘Shout out to the CEO of a dope company who’s changing the world from my perspective.’ That’s obviously not their perspective, but is this America? Can we have different perspectives?”
XX-XY is a sportswear company started by former Olympic gymnast and one-time Levi Strauss & Co. brand president Jennifer Sey. She has also used her company as a platform to oppose transgender athletes playing in women’s sports.
Potter adds that she is a long-time WNBA fan and is not just trying to capitalize on the current controversies. But she also added that she is now more of a fan for Fever star Sophie Cunningham.
“I’m a woman loyalist, okay? So, I’m there for Sophie. Where Sophie’s going, I’m going where the Fever’s going,” Potter exclaimed.
She also insisted that Cunningham’s recent fame is good for the league.
“Of course it’s good for the league. We’re women supporting women playing a woman’s sport. How is this not good? Every Fever game is selling out,” she said.
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